A Blonde Weasley and A Redheaded Malfoy
by alambil felicis
Summary: After a fight gone out-of-control, an enchantment acts upon Rose and Scorpius and they must learn how to live their new lives. And maybe discover something unexpected in the process. And, no, they did not exchange bodies; they exchanged something bigger.
1. How It Was Commenced

_It was figuratively collecting cobwebs, dust bunnies, rat poop and pixie dust in my files in my computer. It was also begging to be published, so I did. Tada._

_Chapter 1_

* * *

Scorpius had his chin propped on his hand. He excelled in History of Magic (like in every other subject), yes, but it doesn't mean he has to enjoy it. Probably the only one in the entire class who's sitting erectly with eyes wide open was Rose Weasley. If there's one thing he can't compete against Rose, it was the full attention to the boring Professor Binns. The ghost-teacher just asked a question and Rose's hand shot right up in the air, like there was anyone racing her to do it. Scorpius didn't even bother raise his hand up though he knew the question; their professor drained enough alertness from him. Rose said the answer proudly and beamed as Binns gave her a lazy, "Very good Ms. Weasley." She then shot a gloating glance at Scorpius.

_Mature_, Scorpius mouthed sarcastically.

Thank Merlin it was the last subject of the day. He was already worn out. September, October, November and now it's December. The Christmas break is only a week away. He let the thought sink in him to cheer him up.

"That was the most boring chapter ever!" Albus said walking beside him. "Who cares about—what was that chapter about?"

Scorpius shrugged, "As soon as I have stepped out of Binns' classroom, I mentally deleted all his lectures about chapter…twelve was it?"

"Er…thirteen?"

Scorpius and Albus are very good buddies, much to Rose's displeasure.

"Chapter eleven," a smug voice confirmed from behind them. Rose bounced behind her cousin and smiled at him. Then she turned to Scorpius with a _you're-wrong-as-usual_ look. "And not twelve."

"Go bother someone else," Scorpius said lethargically.

Rose scowled at him, "Whatever. Don't forget we have to do an inspection on the second floor—"

"Can't Davies and Byron do it? They _are_ the Heads!"

"They asked us to do it," Rose said. "They're busy with…something I don't know."

"Snogging probably," Al whispered that made both Scorpius and him snicker. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Really, I can only imagine what they actually do inside their Heads common room. I can't believe they're going out,"

Rose stared at them horribly then decided not to say anything about it. "Malfoy, before dinner at 6:50. Second floor!"

"Fine!"

Rose walked away after while she shook her head irritably.

"Why do you need to check the second floor?" Albus asked as they walked to the courtyard.

"Hmm, I don't know." He shrugged. "Some third years I guess. Pranking."

"She still calls you Malfoy…" Al mused.

"Ever since we met. Nothing's really new, is there?"

"Sometimes I can't stand it. When you two bicker and go off, I mean."

Scorpius sat down on a bench, his face wearing a smirk, "Sorry there mate, but I just can't stand her…more than you can't stand us fighting."

"Look, you're my friend and she's my cousin. It's very hard to be wedged between you two, you know. Sometimes I don't know whom to hang out with." He took a sit next to Scorpius.

"She's just a little prejudiced bint—"He saw Albus sigh at the corner of his eyes but he continued. "She thinks I'm some competition."

Albus chuckled, "Well you're acting like one! First year and you two already disliked each other. What's wrong with the two of you? You like her brother don't you?"

"Yeah, Hugo's cool—"

"So why not like Rose too?"

Scorpius contemplated for an answer. Thinking about, Rose Weasley is smart and pretty. It's her mouth he's annoyed at. A sharp tongue isn't actually what he enjoys. Not to mention her...er, unpleasant attitude. "It's her fault," he settled for an answer.

"I tell you, I'm going to make you two friends. I will. We're in sixth year. It's still not too late."

"I doubt that." He lightly punched Albus on the shoulder.

. . .

"What took you so long?" Rose said harshly. "You're late for—"

"Three minutes only," Scorpius spat. "You're worse than my mother during family reunions. And that's saying something."

"Shut up," Rose snapped as they started walking along the corridor in the second floor. "I'm already starving and I want to bust those kids with the dung bombs now."

"Well aren't you a patient little thing?" Scorpius muttered. "Are you sure they're on the second floor?"

"Well, with the fact that a classroom here always smell like cack," the redhead said with disgust. "I'm pretty sure."

"You want to know what I'm pretty sure about?" Scorpius asked.

Rose raised an eyebrow, "What?"

He grinned, "That your Quidditch skills are cack."

"_Your_ face is cack Malfoy,"

"Says you," then he stopped on his tracks, blocking Rose's way. "Look at me," he inched his face closer to hers. He was a lot taller than Rose, which was a funny thing because he could clearly remember that when they were eleven, she was as tall as him. Now he had to bend a little lower so he could level his pale face to her freckled one. Rose tried to step back with a scowl but Scorpius had his hand on her shoulder. That was too close for her. She felt his cool breath. "I'm gorgeous."

"In what world?" she said as she pushed Scorpius back.

"In the world you're in, baby," he teased.

"Oh you're sick!"

"Tell me about it. Calling you _baby_ feels ugly in my mouth!" Scorpius said.

"Stop goofing around," she muttered, walking ahead.

They started walking again, checking all doors and classrooms they pass by. The only sounds they were hearing were their footsteps and Scorpius' whistling behind Rose. It was after a minute or two when he spoke, "Come on Weasley! There's nothing in here! Can we—"

"Shh!" Rose said as they stopped by a door opened just a crack. "Someone's inside this classroom."

"Don't be ridiculous. It hasn't been used for a long time—"

"Just shut up, will you?" she whispered frantically. "Someone's inside."

She took a peek inside and she gasped softly. There inside the room were two people, fiercely intertwined with each other. Rose immediately recognized the tall fellow sixth-year whose hair was bleach-blond that reached just under his chin. Shawn Peakes was hungrily snogging a blonde. She couldn't see who the blonde was as Shawn's and the blonde's faces were conjoined. His hands were all over the girl and Rose felt herself shrink. She had this little crush on Shawn Peakes since last year.

"You two!" bellowed Scorpius, kicking the door widely open. "You shouldn't be here!"

The two people broke apart, anger sketched on their faces.

"Is it against the rules to—"

"Shut up Peakes," said Scorpius. "Out!"

"Come on," he took the girl's hand and made their way out of the room. Peakes made sure he bumped Scorpius at the process, "Prat."

"You see this?" Scorpius threatened to him while pointing the Prefect's Badge on his chest. "I can dock points!"

The couple was already away when Scorpius shouted, "Ten points from Hufflepuff! Each!"

Rose rubbed her left upper arm as she blushed profusely. She didn't notice that she was pouting rather pitifully.

"What's it with you?" Scorpius asked her with no concern whatsoever.

"You're right," she mumbled. "No third years here. I'll head off now."

She started to leave the empty classroom but Scorpius stopped her, "What now?"

Rose pushed him away, "You don't care! Just—"

Scorpius laughed, "Uh-huh. And miss an opportunity to inflict pain on you? I don't think so."

Rose stared at him with an angry look, but it was a wrong move. Pain was written on her brown eyes.

"Looks like the job's been done for me," he said playfully. "Whoever did that, I must thank—_oh_..."

Rose looked away and stared at her feet. Then she stepped around Scorpius to go through the doors. But his hands pushed her away from it.

"Is this about Peakes?" he said. Scorpius was completely entertained with this piece of information. "He was snogging someone and you're acting like this…you like him!" He chuckled. "Oh this is good!"

"Get your own life," she said as she made her way again. Scorpius held her shoulders and stopped her for the third time.

"Whoa, I'm not yet finished," he said. He placed his hands on his pockets. "You've got a bad taste. I mean a Hufflepuff? Seriously! So, since when did you like that player?"

"He's not a player,"

"No? How many girlfriends did he have since his first? Countless already, I heard. And he was only thirteen when he had his first girl."

"I don't care,"

"Weasley Weasley Weasley," he smirked. "If those freckles aren't dumped on your face I bet they're green with jealousy now. I'm sure you wish that you're the girl who shared saliva with him."

"Bugger off! I'm in no mood for this!" She felt her face get hot with frustration. She walked to the front desk of the classroom.

"Can I blame him though?" he said nonchalantly. "If I were to choose between _you_ and that hot girl he was kissing minutes ago, I'd choose her, obviously. Who would choose you?"

Rose had her face away from him.

"But if I had to choose between a mad cow and you, hmm, I guess I'd choose y—oh no wait, the cow." He laughed at what he thought was funny. "Now that I thought about it, you look like a cow anyway, so I'd just reject both."

"That's brilliant, coming from a cow itself," she snapped. Scorpius frowned at her. "Or haven't you seen your face in a mirror? There's one right there. Go on, check it out." She pointed to an oval mirror hanging on the wall ten feet away from them.

"I don't need to check my face out—"

"On second thought, don't check your face in the mirror. It might shatter in millions of pieces—"

"Afraid of seven years of bad luck? Oh I guess not, since you already have bad luck. What's worse is that you have a lifetime of it."

Rose eyes glinted with anger, "What makes you think I have a lifetime of bad luck, huh?"

"For one thing, that big messy nest, I mean, hair you've got. When you put us next to each other, people actually pity you. The only luck you probably possess is my presence."

"You egocentric prat! I _vomit_ at your presence!"

"I vomit at your face!"

"I vomit at _your_ face!"

"Hard to believe. You see Weasel-dung; I got my father's looks. Have you seen Draco Malfoy's face? Yes, I inherited that. face"

"Yeah, it's rubbish. Worse than rubbish actually. Rubbish probably looks so much better compared to it."

"Don't you have a go at my father—" he pulled out his wand.

Rose got her wand out and pointed it at him as well, "Fine, I'll have a go at your camel of a mother then."

Scorpius couldn't bring himself to insult Rose's mother. Hermione Weasley was actually a kind woman. In truth, he didn't feel odium towards the Weasleys, contrary to what Rose thinks he feels. But Scorpius may just feel a little not too pleasant towards Ron Weasley. Just like her father, Rose doesn't feel hospitable towards the Malfoys.

"Don't you say my mother is a camel, seeing your dad is a—a...a hippo!" That was really mature…the two of them are insulting each other using animals. Rose's whole face went red and when she spoke, her voice was shrill and loud; she gets a little touchy when her parents are being insulted.

"I hope Albus hears you!" she shrieked, her wand pointed threateningly towards Scorpius, who was doing the same with his own. "So he realizes what gigantic git you are! I can't believe you two are friends! You don't know what it's like, Albus going on about how you're a good friend and that I should stop _competing_ against you. He doesn't realize it's your fault too! You're an arrogant good-for-nothing spoiled kid who thinks everyone will bow down to you! Well, that's what to expect from a Malfoy, isn't it? Don't you know that I know how you think of me and my family—"

"Well do you really know?" Scorpius said heatedly. "You're very prejudice—"

"You think my family and I are scum—"

"You don't know what I'm thinking Weasley—"

Rose's face was contorted in anger. "My mum is a Muggle-born and my dad is a blood traitor; of course a snotty Pureblood like you obviously thinks they're scum! What more of their daughter, right? That's why you treat me like rubbish! Because of my blood? My family? You don't know what it's like to be me. You don't know how hard my life can get! You don't know anything because you're you! I bet if you were me, you'd just give up on it!"

A silver-blue blaze shot right out of Rose's wand, and in reaction, Scorpius shouted, "_Protego_!"

Then something exploded and both students were knocked off backwards. The whole room was filled with some kind of glittery bluish smoke and no one can see a thing. Scorpius tried to stand up, but some sort of mild electric feeling crept up from his feet upwards to his head so he couldn't move. He remained lying there, coughing, while the smoke from the explosion cleared up incredibly fast in a few moments. Once Scorpius felt he could move, he slowly got up to his feet. He felt dizzy for a second then he saw Rose still lying beside the front desk. She was feebly tryingto move. Scorpius went and crouched at her side.

"Are you alright?" he asked, forcing himself to sound calm. He reached for he left wrist to feel her pulse.

"What the bloody hell," she said weakly. "Don't touch me!"

Scorpius scowled at her. Rose was finally able to sit up. She rubbed the back of her head, "Ow…"

"Are you alright?" he repeated.

"That must be a bad fall." Rose stared incredulously at him and said, "You're asking if I'm _alright_?"

"Fine…then, are you..._not_ alright?" He stood up, looking down at the redhead.

"Yes, I'm not," she mumbled. She stood up as well but staggered for a moment. She looked around the room and was glad that surprisingly nothing seemed to be broken from the mishap.

"Our spells must've blown up—"

"Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious!" she said. "Wait—what? What spells?"

"You're right," Scorpius knitted his eyebrows. "That must be a bad fall. Our _spells_—"

"You were the only one who casted a spell!"

"It was just a shield charm! How about yours, huh? Who knows what kind of spell you—"

"I didn't cast any spell," she said hysterically.

"You did! I saw it! That's the reason why I tried to use a shield!"

"I di—" her eyes flew up on Scorpius' hair.

"What is it?" he asked. His hands ran through his hair as he felt if there was something in it. "What?"

"Y—your…hair," she stuttered. "It's…turning—"

"_Your_ hair!" Scorpius pointed.

* * *

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	2. The Transition Was Completed

_Chapter 2_

* * *

"What!" Rose grabbed a handful of her long bushy hair and examined it. Her fiery red hair was now lighter in color. She glanced at Scorpius with wide eyes. His hair was turning strawberry blond, but it was getting deeper in red slowly every second. Then she looked back at her own hair. It was getting lighter. Both of them dashed towards the mirror on the wall. Scorpius got there first but Rose violently pushed him out of the way.

"What did you do?" she cried. "What's happeni—"

"What did _I_ do?" Scorpius echoed. He stood behind Rose, and with his height, peered over her head at the mirror. "What did _you_ do? You casted the unknown spell!"

"I told you I never casted any spell!" Her fingers felt her cheeks. Then she yelped, "My freckles! They're—they're…going away!"

"No!" Scorpius gasped. "What the bloody hell? I have freckles!"

Indeed he was having freckles. His once pale face slowly blushed as freckles appear one by one on his nose and cheeks. Meanwhile, Rose's cheeks, once red, were now turning pale. And simultaneously, her freckles were diminishing. It was like they were going away from her face and settling on Scorpius' face. Rose's hair was now so light that it was light brown. The hair of Scorpius was now deep red, although not as red as his ears. Rose tugged on her hair furiously as it colored slowly into platinum blond.

Rose stepped away from the mirror, backing into Scorpius in the process. She looked at him with angry eyes, "What did you do?"

"It was only a shield charm!"

"Does this look like a shield charm?" she said dangerously as she held up a glossy lock of blond hair.

"N—no…" Scorpius blinked. "Look at _me_! I look like Strawberry Shortcake! No worse, I look like a Weasley!"

"Oh boo-hoo for you!" She said sardonically. "I'm _blonde_!" Her voice faltered at the last word. She faced the mirror again and noticed something. "Hey…I still have brown eyes."

She turned around to peer at Scorpius, "You still have your gray eyes."

Scorpius looked deep into her eyes and found a pretty shade of brown. He might've looked a little longer than normal so Rose said, "What are you gawking at!"

Scorpius snapped out of it. The fall was really a bad one. "I'm just thinking of a word to describe how you look with a pale face and a blond hair. _Ugly_ doesn't seem right. I need something more horrid."

She rolled her eyes, "This is really your fault."

"_My_ fault?" He said in disbelief. "Again with the _blame-Scorpius-for-everything_ thing. Do you know what a shield charm is, Weasley—"

"So you're pushing the blame on me? Because you said that you just '_used a shield charm'_?" She imitated a troll-ish voice that was supposed to sound like Scorpius'. "It is perfectly clea—"

Scorpius grabbed Rose's hand and pulled her towards the door.

"What are you doing?" She shouted as she pulled away from his grip. Scorpius released her and she stumbled backwards.

"We're going to Madam Pomfrey. She could fix this," He said impatiently after pointing to his hair. "Now come on!"

Scorpius grabbed her hand again but Rose shouted, "You don't need to hold me! Get off!"

. . .

Rose kept her head very low and hidden in her blonde curls as she insecurely clutched her robes tightly around her. Scorpius kept running his hand through his hair and groaning every time he did so. As soon as they reached the third floor, were the hospital wing was, a voice called them from behind.

"Mr. Weasley, Ms. Malfoy," both of them spun around to see the Hogwarts Headmistress Professor McGonagall. "Ms. Davies and Mr. Byron informed me that you two are assigned to check the second floor. Did you see the students behind the dung bomb outbreaks?"

"No, Professor," Rose said hesitantly. There was something that McGonagall said that confused her.

"Well then," the headmistress sighed. "You two ought to have your dinner now if there isn't any business anymore. And Mr. Weasley, please fix your hair. It's standing everywhere."

Scorpius was taken aback. McGonagall was actually referring to him as _Mr. Weasley_. "I'm sorry professor, but I think you're mistaken," he glanced at Rose, who was equally looking bewildered, then looked back at McGonagall. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy. You see there was this little…er, accident and it seems that our appearance—"

"Whatever are you talking about, Mr. Weasley?" McGonagall snapped. "Take your dinner now then rest. You must be tired. Although I can't blame you. Mr. Filch kept complaining about those dung bombs. Go on, eat your dinner."

Professor McGonagall left them. When they were sure that she was out of earshot, Rose stared at Scorpius with a shocked expression.

"She's going loony, isn't she?" he said. "The old woman needs to get a husband, if it isn't too late."

"She couldn't have mistaken us like _that_," Rose complained. "I mean, we still look like our normal selves, right? Minus the hair and the...transposition of—of freckles, of course…"

She opened her mouth and closed it again. She racked her brain on what to do next. "Should we go on to see Madam Pomfrey?"

"Alright," Scorpius replied sceptically.

They continued walking until they reached the hospital wing. They found Madam Pomfrey stocking a cabinet with things that looked like medicines. She looked up at the company and raised her eyebrows in question.

"What is it Mr. Weasley and Ms. Malfoy?" she said. "I'm quite busy right now but if the two of you are throwing jinxes again at each other, the headmistress might strip off your badges. Of course after I check if your jinxes haven't done any damage."

Scorpius felt his ears redden as he became frustrated. Before he could even speak, Rose said very quickly, "We just happened to pass by. Alright, we'll go now."

She dragged Scorpius out of the double doors of the hospital wing. Scorpius stopped and faced Rose, "What was that all about? She was supposed to fix us!"

"Didn't you notice what she called us?" she said.

"Yeah," Scorpius replied with irritation. "She mistook us like McGonagall—"

"Exactly," Rose said calmly. "Don't you reckon it's a bit odd? It's not just McGonagall—"

"We should've explained it to her rather than running off."

"But what if she doesn't believe us? McGonagall didn't believe us. Something abnormal is happening."

"Yeah, besides a blab-mouth like you exists, I really think that some abnormal stuff is going on," he said coolly. Rose decided to disregard the negative comment. "So what do you suggest we do now?"

Rose thought for a moment, "Why don't we go to the Great Hall? See if anyone might mistake us for each other again…"

"And then?"

"I don't know. Now come on."

They didn't know what was happening. It was a silly thing that two people mistook them. They weren't really that unrecognizable. Rose was now blonde and pale but other than that, she still looked like Rose. Scorpius has red hair and freckles, but he still looked like Scorpius too. Upon reaching the doors of the Great Hall, a hand clapped the back of Scorpius. He jumped.

"Whoa," Albus said. "It's just me. I've been looking all over for you! Where've you been?"

"Al!" Rose said in relief. "Thank Merlin you're here—"

"Er," Albus said with a confused look on his face. "Hello Rose…So," he said turning back to Scorpius animatedly. "Did you find the dung bomb culprits? James is very proud of those kids. He wants to meet them."

"No," Scorpius said slowly. He was also confused by the actions of Albus. Albus usually greeted Rose brightly, but moments ago, when Rose addressed him, he looked uncomfortable and perplexed.

"Oh well," he shrugged. "Come one, I'm starving."

He walked towards the Gryffindor table but after two feet, he turned around only to find that Scorpius hadn't followed him, but Rose did instead.

"Scorp?" Albus asked. "Aren't you coming?"

"What?" Scorpius said.

"_Dinner_," he said slowly along with gestures like he was eating as if he was explaining something to a toddler. Then he turned to Rose, who was standing beside him. "And, er, Rose, please don't take this the wrong way but…what are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" she said, befuddled.

"I mean, the Slytherin table is over..." Albus pointed on the other side of the room. "There."

"Slythe—what do you—"

"Alright Scorp, come on," he walked back to Scorpius (whose mouth was hanging open), rested his hand on his shoulder and started leading him to their house table. "Seriously, your prefect duties must be getting hard on you. You have to talk to Joey Byron about letting you loosen up a bit. Just because he's the Head Boy doesn't mean he can boss you around while he snogs his girlfriend-slash-fellow-head-slash-seventh-year-hottie…"

Rose stood there alone, hopelessly waiting for Albus to turn around and say, _GOTCHA!_ But he didn't. She looked down at the patch of her robe. What she clearly remembered to be Gryffindor was now a Slytherin patch.

"Why was Malfoy acting like that?" Albus asked Scorpius as they sat down. Albus began placing food on his plate, waiting for an answer.

"Like what?" Scorpius was still gobsmacked. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean," he said after swallowing a big bite of fried chicken. "She called me by my first name. No wait, she called me by my _nickname_."

"She always calls you by your nick—"

"Scorp, you know she doesn't. She's not exactly our friend, is she? And anyway, have you seen how relieved she looked like when she saw me. It gave me a case of shudders."

"Are you pulling off some joke?" Scorpius said.

"Huh?"

"Scorp!" Hugo sat beside Scorpius with a huge grin. "Hey, you know, Malfoy just addressed me. She never acknowledged my existence. The weird sociopathic blonde..."

"What?" Scorpius said. Hugo just called her sister _Malfoy_. Something was going on. He didn't know what to do.

"What did she say?" Albus asked

"She said 'Hey Hugo'. I just looked at her then walked away."

"She _is_ acting weird," he mused. "You know she just called me Al some time ago."

"Really?" Hugo's eyes were wide. "Do you know something about this, Scorp? Scorp...hey Scorpius!"

"What?"

"You seem like out of your game tonight," Albus said.

"I need to go," Scorpius stood up.

"You have a small bladder,"

Scorpius sighed impatiently, "Not that kind of _go_,"

"You know, I think mum dropped him on his head when he was a baby," Hugo and Albus laughed. Scorpius froze and stared disbelievingly at Hugo. "His acting weird is actually normal behavior for him."

"What did you say?"

Hugo held his hands up in front as if to surrender, "Hey, I was just kidding. But you know it could be true." He added a snigger.

"Mum?" Scorpius said. "Whose mum?"

"_Our_ mum," Hugo answered, confusion etched on his face. "Seriously, maybe it's true."

Scorpius sprinted away and headed for the door, but Rose wasn't there. He scanned the whole of the Great Hall and found Rose seated on the Slytherin table. She looked uncomfortable and panic-stricken. He ran towards her and tapped her impatiently on the shoulder. Rose looked at him and stood up immediately. The Slytherin girls sitting beside Rose started to whisper with each other, giving Scorpius mean looks.

"We need to talk," he muttered so that Rose can only hear.

"Yeah," Rose agreed breathlessly.

Scorpius led the way out of the hall and behind a large statue of a wizard in the Entrance Hall. He looked around if the coast was clear and when he saw nobody, he looked intently at Rose.

"We have a problem,"

"You humongous genius," Rose snapped. "This is the only time you realize it?"

"Would you just listen," Scorpius said. "Hugo came up to Albus and me. He said he was surprised you addressed him—"

"Yeah," she said softly. "The look on his face when I called him...he—he just...went away...as if I'm a flesh-eating virus or something."

"You? Flesh-eating virus...close enough," he joked, then turned serious. "Both Al and Hugo called you Malfoy while they were talking about how you're acting strange. Albus was also surprised because you called him by his nickname."

Rose crossed her arms against her chest, "But I always call him by his nickname."

"That's what I said to him," Scorpius leaned against the wall, his hands in his pockets. "And you know what's more bizarre...Hugo actually mentioned something about _our_ mother—"

"What do you mea—"

"_Our_ mum. Mine and Hugo's—"

_"What!"_

"Shh!"

"What in the—"

"Do you have any idea what's happening?" Scorpius asked.

"I'm not sure," Rose was beyond panic. "But look at my patch! It's a Slytherin patch."

Scorpius swiftly examined his own. It was a Gryffindor patch. He pointed at Rose's House patch and lamely said, "That's supposed to be mine."

Rose scoffed at him, "You think!" She fell silent and proceeded to bite her thumb, thinking hard. Then she slowly straightened up and looked at Scorpius with frightened eyes. "You don't think..."

"What?" Scorpius felt fright seize him as he saw Rose's visage. He leaned forward to Rose.

"Well," she started. "People called me Malfoy and you Weasley. Look at us...I look like a Malfoy and you look like a Weasley. I'm suddenly in Slytherin and you're in Gryffindor. And then that bit about Hugo and Albus. I...think...w—we exchanged—" she swallowed painfully "—lives or something."

* * *

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._

_Sorry it took this long. I think this chapter is verging on lameness xD_


	3. New Fake Friends Plus A Hot Boyfriend

_Chapter 3_

* * *

"Be reasonable Weasley," Scorpius said.

"I _am_ reasonable! Oh how slow we have been!" Rose clenched her fists. "Can you think of a better explanation, huh, genius?"

Scorpius slumped back to lean on the wall, his eyes on his shoes. "Well, that does sound quite reasonable. But how?"

"How this happened?" she said. "I don't—"

"It was your spell!" he said, straightening up again. "I told you; you casted a spell of some sort!"

"You—"

"I casted _Protego_ because you were firing a spell towards me! It was for defence!"

Rose fell silent. She tucked her blond hair behind her right ear and thought hard. When she was yelling at Scorpius before the explosion, she held her wand pointing to him. And she felt a creeping electric feeling from her arm going to her hand then to the tip of her wand. After that she saw a zap, something like blue in color. She forehead-slapped herself and groaned loudly.

"I _did_ cast a spell!" she cried as she brought her cold hands to hold her dizzy head. "Oh no!"

Scorpius smirked at her smugly. "See, I'm right. As always."

Rose glared at him but guilt took over her and so she looked away. "But I guess it's not an ordinary spell," she said softly. "I've read books about witches and wizards making an enchantment spontaneously and obliviously."

"It's still your fault because it always is," he said. "Anyways, how come you made this enchantment_ spontaneously and obliviously_? How did it happen?"

"I was telling how you don't know what my life is like, right?" said Rose after a second of thinking.

"Uh-huh, the ranting of a blabbering hysterical tormented sociopathic nerd with the right amount of angst that can bombard the living daylights in a grown-up..." he muttered then said in a louder voice. "Actually you were shouting it at me, not telling."

"Fine. Anyways, I think the last thing I said before the enchantment happened was...how if...you were me or something like that..."

"Yeah..." Scorpius thought loudly.

"That must've done it but it should have only hit you. Although, based on what I've read, those oblivious enchantments do not usually take effect on the caster as well, just the target."

"So?"

"So," Rose rolled her eyes. "It's partly _your_ fault too, since you used a shield charm. It must've reacted with the enchantment. Instead of shielding you with it, your shield charm just collided with the enchantment and it exploded, thus affecting us both."

Scorpius stared at the blonde for a moment with an unfathomable expression. He wasn't feeling like what he thought he should feel. He expected himself to be angry but the bitter emotion isn't just dawning over him. "Okay, Miss Talking Encyclopedia, what do we do now?"

"That's it?" Rose said exasperatedly. "That's what you're saying?"

"Well then what do you want me to s—"

"Rose!" A high-pitched voice sounded a few feet away the statue they were hiding at. Behind her were three other girls.

"Oh no," Scorpius heard Rose moan.

A tall brunette flitted towards Rose. Scorpius recognized her at once. Sophie Bletchley was one of his Slytherin fan girls who constantly ogled at him every chance she got. He had caught her staring at his half-naked body after a Quidditch match. But right now, she was looking at him like he was some kind of repulsive infection whose sole purpose for existence was to disgust a pretty girl like her.

"Come on," Sophie said. "Let's go."

"Where are we going?" Rose said.

"Away from _him_," Sophie glared at Scorpius.

Scorpius always knew that most of the Slytherin girls hated Rose Weasley. It was self-explanatory. She was the daughter of the two famous best friends _and_ fellow heroes of Harry Potter. But now that they had seemingly exchanged lives, Sophie must now hate Scorpius. And apparently, she's also a close friend of Rose, although Rose looks as if she's not enjoying the sudden friendship. Rose winced surreptitiously.

She stepped closer to Scorpius and muttered so low that he was the only one to hear, "Meet me at the library. 9 pm."

"Rose, come on," Sophie tugged on her impatiently. Rose sighed and went away with the group of Slytherin girls who were glaring at Scorpius.

"What were you doing with him?" Scorpius heard one of the girls ask Rose, not bothering to lower her voice. "Ugh!"

He stared at them until they reached the stairs going down the dungeons. He thought Rose looked a little horrified by going down. Then Scorpius remembered that he would be living in the Gryffindor tower if they stayed like that. He heard footsteps then someone called out.

"There you are Scorp!" Albus came. "What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, nothing." Scorpius came out of the statue's refuge and met his _now_ cousin Albus.

"You looked freaked out back in the Great Hall then you ran away towards Malfoy and then the two of you walked out. What's up? Is it the dung bombs thing? Or you two just thought of making it the Let's-Have-A-Panic-Attack Night"

"Er, yeah,"

"The panic attack?"

Scorpius knitted his eyebrows as he tried to concentrate, "No, the dung bombs."

"Well really, you shouldn't take it that seriously. Why don't we come to the common room, if you don't want to eat dinner, that is. Your brother is scarfing down another helping of raspberry pie. I don't know about him. Raspberry pie is disgusting, don't you reckon?"

They started walking up the marble staircases. "Yeah, totally."

"Are you alright?" Albus asked.

"Yeah, absolutely." Said Scorpius without even listening.

This Albus seemed to notice, "Do you think Filch is attractive?"

"Yeah, extremely," Scorpius answered absent-mindedly. Then he was brought back to earth by his cousin's boisterous laughter.

"You're loony, mate," he said. "I mean, I'm alright with that. Just don't act like that in front of Veronica."

Scorpius snapped his eyes on Albus. "You mean Veronica Samuels?"

"Don't you remember we have a double date with her and her friend on the coming Hogsmeade weekend?"

Scorpius groaned. He totally forgot about their date. How would that date turn out now that he's a Weasley?

"Gongoozler," Albus said to the portrait before climbing on the portrait hole. "I thought you like her?"

Scorpius sat on a squashy arm chair by the fireplace. His head buzzed with thoughts as he stared at the fire. Veronica Samuels was a very pretty Ravenclaw in the same year. Actually, she was one of Scorpius' fan girls, just like Sophie. But he didn't like-_like _Veronica. Now that he remembered it, Veronica asked him out and the only reason he said yes was because she pitied the girl and that he was impressed by her courage to even dare to ask him. But that was when he was still a Malfoy stud.

"I thought you think she's hot," Albus added.

He most definitely does not think Veronica as hot. Pretty, yes. But hot? No.

"To tell you the truth," Albus continued nonchalantly. "Hugo was surprised she said yes to you."

"Said yes to me?" Now Scorpius sat up so quickly he almost hurt himself.

"Yeah," Albus said with a confused face. "Don't you remember? I helped you ask her out. _And _I asked her friend, what was her name...Jen, so that you wouldn't feel awkward on your date. You were so terrified before you talked to Veronica. _'What if she'd reject me? That's so humiliating!'_" He laughed after exaggeratedly imitating Scorpius. "You look like you were going to up-chuck your intestines out."

So, turns out he asked his _former fan girl_ Veronica Samuels. Being a Weasley must've done it. He was worried, "Am I that big of a loser?"

His black-haired cousin smirked, "What?"

"Could you—please—just describe..._me_?" Scorpius was desperate. It was for a little research about his life as a Weasley. Albus would be the perfect reference.

"Sure," said Albus with a funny look on his face. "Whatever. Erm, let's see..." He gazed up, as if the answers were hovering above his head, and prepared to count his cousin's traits with his fingers. "You're smart, incredibly smart as what Uncle Ron would be bragging; he says you got it from Aunt Hermione, which is true. You're—why are you making me describe you anyways?"

Scorpius sighed, "Am I popular?"

His cousin knitted his eyebrows, "Since when did you care about social-rankings? Of course you are."

"Am I cool? Do people adore me? Do I attract many girls?"

Albus smirked, "Do you seriously want me to answer those?"

"If you do, I won't bother you with those kinds of questions ever again." The redheaded Scorpius was apparently afraid to lose his 'coolness'. During his Malfoy days, almost every girl drooled over him. Teachers liked him. He didn't get in much trouble; well, because he was never caught. The only time he got in a bad situation in front of the teachers was in fourth year, when he and Rose got in a big ugly jinx-throwing fight that resulted with a beaver's tail, blue scaly skin, tall earwax-filled rabbit ears and spaghetti hair. Not to mention a couple of other kids (who got accidentally jinxed) ran around with disgusting pulsating warts the size of plums.

Scorpius Malfoy...I mean, Scorpius Weasley, was afraid he'd lose his brilliant, cool, appealing, chick-magnet, bad-ass image because he was a freckled redheaded Weasley now. He liked the Weasleys. Nothing's really wrong with them. His father made sure that he would grow up better than him, so he didn't bring up Scorpius the same way Lucius did with Draco. But Scorpius couldn't help worrying over how he would be now that he's supposed to be the male version of Rose, the only exception to the personal rule of no-hating-the-Weasleys.

"Scorp," Albus said. "You have never cared of what others think. This is strange of you..."

The redheaded Scorpius sighed.

"You're popular," Albus said after some moments. "But it's because others, er...see you as an attention-seeking know-it-all who doesn't get the normal count of dates. And they also think you're trying to live up greater than your parents did. Please don't make me continue..."

Scorpius gave up. He stared back at the flames and thought of how Rose was doing.

. . .

Once, during her fifth year, when it was her first time to be a prefect, the Head Girl asked her to round the dungeons. Rose immediately said no. Roaming around creepy dungeons isn't exactly what one of her hobbies, not alongside reading thick books and playing board games to the never-enthusiastic Hugo. It's dark and cold in there, that's what she thought. Plus, Bloody Baron is often there; he's sort of scary. So, she never really got to walk through the dungeons...that is, until some minutes ago. Sitting in a velvet green couch beside Sophie Bletchley and Amara Higgs, she kept silent. It was all wrong; she shouldn't be here in stinking Slytherin.

"So," said the strawberry blonde Amara. "Is you date with Shawn all set? Wow, Rose, I can't believe you've been going out for two months already! He's so yummy..."

"_Yummy?_" Sophie repeated with a snort. "You and your pre-school vocabulary, Mar."

"Shawn who?" Rose's eyes widened and she almost choked on her own spit.

"Why, Shawn Peakes, of course," Amara giggled. Rose froze.

"Rose," Amara called. Rose didn't notice that her face broke into somewhere between a blissful smile and a disbelieving frown.

"Huh?" she said weakly.

"You and Shawn?" her now-friend said. "Your date—?"

"When is it?" Rose asked, maybe a little too eagerly.

"You're asking me? It's your date and you don't know..." Amara laughed. "If you don't want to go, break up with him—"

"What?" Rose said in alarm. Why would she ever want to break up with Shawn Peakes? "No—no! I just—I was..."

"Rosie, you're kind of weird right now, you know that?" Sophie said as she eyed a handsome fellow Slytherin across the room. "'Kay, see you girls later." Then she stood up and went to the guy she was staring at.

Amara stared at her. "You _are _acting unusual tonight."

"Must be the dung bombs thing," Rose shrugged uncomfortably.

"Eeeww!" Amara squeaked as she tried to move away from Rose. "You touch those—those...things?"

"No," Rose scowled at the girly-girl. "It was our Prefect duties, to catch those behind the dung bomb outbreak in the second floor—"

"Eugh," Amara stood up, much to Rose's relief. "Alright, like, I need to talk to somebody else right now, Rose. No offense, but seriously...I just—bye."

"Thank heavens she left me alone," Rose muttered.

She looked at the wall clock and it read five minutes past eight. She still has to wait less than an hour until she can go to the library and meet Scorpius.

"Oh whatever!" she scoffed. She got up from her seat and headed out of the Slytherin common room.

"Where are you going, Rosie?" Amara called out.

"Er...duties," she answered then went out.

_Maybe I could read something about accidental enchantments while waiting,_ she thought.

It was silent and creepy in the dungeons. She pulled her robe tightly around her as she walked slowly and carefully. She heard something behind her and she quickly turned around. Nothing.

"Anyone there?" her voice shook. She heard someone breathing in the dark. "Hello?" But still nothing.

She continued walking, faster this time. Rose kept looking back and felt someone moving close behind her. She walked faster, almost a run.

"Merlin," she whispered nervously. "If my life was an epic movie, horror music would be playing right now."

Rose tripped and when she stood up, she felt that the someone or something following her was very much close by. She reached for her wand slowly as she spoke, "Who's there?"

Then someone grabbed her by the waist and buried his face on her neck.

"Aaaargghh!" Rose elbowed the stranger and kicked him on his stomach.

"Ow! It's me, Rose!" a guy croaked. He knelt on the ground, clutching his abdomen. "Kick me farther below and, I swear, I won't be able to produce children."

Rose swallowed hard. She knew that voice too well. She couldn't see Shawn's face in the dark but she was sure it was him.

* * *

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	4. We Love the Library but Not the Dungeons

_I'm kind of just going dilly-dallying._

_Chapter 4 _

* * *

"Sh—" Rose said as she bent beside the person. "Sh—Shawn?"

"Yes, babe," he flashed a smile. "Miss me?"

"Babe?" Rose frowned. Then she remembered. She was Shawn's girlfriend _now_. She helped him stand up. "I'm sorry...I was—"

"Paranoid," he said. "As usual."

Rose snorted nervously. "Oh yes, well..." Then she let out a small shaky gasp as Shawn's arms slid around her waist.

"Where're you heading?" he whispered. He was dangerously close to her face. Rose immediately felt dizzy.

"To the library," she said in a small voice. Shawn laughed and was about to kiss her when Rose pushed him away.

"What?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"The—erm...I sort of need to, er, g—go to the, erm, library right now," she stammered.

Shawn sighed. "I'll go with you."

"No—" Shawn grabbed her by the waist again and they walked together. "I mean, I wouldn't want to bother you and all—"

"It's alright, babe,"

"Babe?" Rose mouthed.

Then, Shawn kissed her jaw. Rose flinched violently.

"What's the matter?" he asked. Rose could hear the frown in his voice.

"N—nothing, Shawn," she said. And they continued to walk.

Rose can't believe it. Shawn was holding her the way she had imagined but never expected to really happen. And yet, she was feeling very much uncomfortable, like she does not belong in his arms. Once in a while, Shawn kissed her cheek, probably hoping to get a chance with her lips, but Rose made sure she kept her face distant. She wasn't ready for "that kind of contact" with Shawn. It was just a kiss, but nevermind. Finally, they reached the library.

"What are you going to do here anyway?" Shawn whispered so softly to her ear that it gave her the shudders.

"Erm..." she squeaked. Rose cleared her throat and straightened up when she saw how amused he looked at her. "I'm going to read, what else?"

Shawn rolled her eyes. They entered the library and she broke free from his arms, almost unwillingly, and ran towards the farthest shelves. She grabbed a couple of thick books she thought would be useful and placed them hurriedly on a table. Shawn leaned on a book shelf and frowned at her.

"Rose, babe," Rose shuddered a bit when Shawn called her 'babe' again. "You can do that research tomorrow."

"No, I can't" Rose answered without looking up. Shawn went behind her and wrapped his arms on her waist. She felt as if she was electrocuted and she had a sharp intake of breath.

"How about we do a little _research of our own_ in my dormitory," he said. "I'll make sure no one disturbs us. How's that?"

Rose couldn't speak for a while. Shawn Peakes, the guy who won the figurative award _Least Likely To Date Rose Weasley Let Alone Interact with Her Like This_, was seducing her.Describing her current world with the adjective "topsy-turvy" would be an understatement. She made funny noises that meant her fear, confusion and...somewhat happiness, that Shawn misinterpreted.

"I'll take that as a yes,"

"No!"

"What?" Shawn took a step back. He was cross.

"I n—need...to—I need to read, Shawn," she said shakily. Her father would surely kill this guy if he knew how he was handling his daughter. But, no, she's not a Weasley anymore. Now what would Draco Malfoy do as Rose's father?

Shawn rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine."

"Sorry," Rose felt guilty.

"S'okay, babe," he smiled and leaned to kiss her. Rose held her breathe, waiting for him reluctantly. Her brain suddenly shut down. His smile was just so...

"Oh, disgusting," someone said. Rose pushed Shawn away.

"Problem?" Shawn snarled.

Scorpius smirked and sat on the table beside Rose's books.

Rose breathed deeply and turned to whisper frantically to Shawn, "Listen, I really have to...study. I'm sorry, okay?"

"Fine, whatever..." He gave Rose a quick kiss on her cheek then haughtily swaggered his way out of the library, taking good care to glare at Scorpius.

When he and Rose were finally alone, Scorpius looked at her. Rose busied herself with shuffling through the thin dusty pages of the thick books she got. "What was that all about, Weaslette?" Scorpius said snidely.

"None of your business," Rose muttered angrily.

"Is he your boyfriend?" he prodded. "Now that you're all popular, cool and blonde?"

Rose looked up with icicles in her eyes. Scorpius took a step back and mumbled, "Just curious..."

"Well, you're correct," she snapped at him as she went back to her browsing. "Apparently, I've become his girlfriend in this new life—"

"You fancy him, right?" he teased. "So you must be enjoying this..."

Rose paused and stared blankly ahead of her. She then slowly straightened up. She seemed to be lost in thought and Scorpius neared his face towards hers. She didn't move and continued to stare. Scorpius smirked, purposely breathed on her and said, "Bet you can't wait to snog him senselessly, you two alone in your room, specifically on your be—OW!"

Rose raised her hand, slightly clenched, and thumped him on the forehead as hard as she can.

"What the hell Weasel-bum—"

"Shut up Malfoy! I happen to be good at kicking someone's—"

"What is all the ruckus in here?" Madam Pince hissed.

"Nothing," Scorpius grumbled.

"Now, if I ever—"

"We're not doing anything, alright?" he said exasperatedly. "So bugger o—oomph!" Rose elbowed him.

"I'm sorry Madam Pince," Rose said politely. Scorpius tried hard not to barf at the sweet face she was making. "It won't happen again. Please don't worry; we'll be careful with these books."

The librarian straightened up her glasses and looked at both of them curiously. "Did you just say—you just said _please_."

"Me?" said Rose.

The librarian cleared her throat, "Well, Miss Malfoy, I trust that this is not some sort of act you're putting up. I really hope you're finally giving respect inside the library. Mr. Weasley, don't scowl at me. I don't know what's gotten into you." Then she left, obviously in a bad mood, muttering quite loudly, "Teenagers! Mood swings! All those stuff make the world go crazy!"

Rose glanced at Scorpius and saw that he was just as boggled as she was.

"That explains so much," Scorpius said. He faced Rose back with a funny expression.

"What?" she asked impatiently.

"Well, when I was still...a Malfoy...I was a total git," he said coolly. "Now that _you're_ a Malfoy, in a female persona, maybe people are expecting you to be a...I don't know, a bitch?"

Rose winced at the b-word. "Really? How about you?"

"Well, what do you think?" he said. "You're a well-mannered intelligent Weasley-girl who likes showing off. I'm now a Weasley and they expect me to act that way. Get it?"

Rose pondered as she sat on a chair.

"But I'm not really a git, am I?" Scorpius smirked and Rose could hear the amusement in his voice. "Not all the time, I mean. When it comes in front of teachers and such, I'm a very likable person. And I see that it bugs you. People like me, except Madam Pince because I mutually don't like her."

Rose slouched, "What I don't get is why it's so different

"We just exchanged hair colors, freckle-count and, ah...oh yeah, _lives_," he said. "That's why it's so different, Miss Top-of-The-Class!"

"No, I mean, you're right, you're not a git all the time. People _like_ you, as much as I hate it. Albus was your best friend. You got along with Hugo very well, that sort. You don't seem to dislike my other cousins. And me, how about me? Miss Rose Malfoy! My own brother and cousin don't even want me!"

"Maybe..." Scorpius said, turning serious. "It's because that you're not me. You didn't turn into me, I mean. You're still Rose. And as Rose, _and_ also as a Malfoy, you might've had a different reaction to your life. Look at me, before this enchantment, I've been, er, 'toleratingly' nice your cousins. I think Hugo's cool. Most importantly, Al's my best friend...it's because I know that getting on an old family grudge with your lot would be lame, you know. But you, you're prejudice and maybe you didn't want to make amends to Hugo and Al. As a Malfoy, of course. Maybe if you were never a Weasley, if you were born a Malfoy from the beginning, like what seems to be the situation now, you'd really be a cruel blonde bitch. Well, you _are _cruel and bitchy even when you were a Weasley. Still a sociopath as when you were a Weasley, by the way, but just blonder."

"Wow, thanks," Rose muttered. "That was purely enlightening."

"But did you catch what I'mtrying to say?"

"Yes, whatever." Rose started to browse the books again while the redheaded Scorpius stood beside her, watching.

"What're you doing?" he asked in the middle of yawning.

"I'm looking for similar cases," she said monotonously. She chucked a book to him. "Here, make yourself useful."

Scorpius sat beside her and scanned the pages of _Mishaps and Catastrophes Caused by Sudden Spells of the Late 15th Century: Stories in Which an Impetuous Person like You Should Learn From_. After a few moments, he came across a real life story entitled "Me and My Paramour's Mistake and How My Wife Found Out". _What's up with this book and bloody long titles? _Scorpius thought. He did a quick read and when he understood what happened, Scorpius called Rose's attention.

"What?" she said.

"Read this," he shoved the book in front of Rose.

"'Me and My Paramour's Mistake and How—'?" Rose frowned at him. "I'm not interested in an adulterous man impregnating his mistress—"

"No,He didn't _impregnate_ his mistress! Just take a look."

Rose rolled her eyes but read the text all the same. "_It was a cold and dark afternoon. I just came in my lover's little house after I have lied to my wife that I was going to get a quick swig of Willouise the Warty's Specially Made Butterbeer with 50 percent Firewhisky, but really, I was just going to my lover, Georgine. She was waiting for me on her queen-sized bed—_Scorpius!"

"What now?" he said rather annoyed.

"I don't want to read this!" She hissed.

"What? Why?" Scorpius scowled.

"It's—I'm just...Well, I don't want to!"

He rolled his eyes. "There's nothing sexually graphic about it!"

"Yes, and you're one of the most trustworthy people in my life!"

Scorpius grabbed the book from under Rose's hands. "You have trust issues, you know that, right?" He cleared his throat and read swiftly but audibly. "_She was waiting for me on her queen-sized bed and was glaring angrily at me. She asked why it took me so long—_I don't think I have to read the rest of their discussion—"

"Yes please!" Rose snapped.

"—but just to make it short they were fighting and yelling and the wizard was complaining to his mistress that he was sacrificing his time to be with her—"

"Okay, how is that a similar case with ours?"

"Let me finish!" Scorpius said with impatiently. Rose raised her hands in surrender with a _this-is-ridiculous_ expression on the face. "As I was saying, they were having a pretty loud argument and next thing they knew, they were pointing wands at each other and _bam_, the enchantment was done accidentally. The enchantment like ours. _Exactly_ like ours. Switched lives, you know. Eventually, they couldn't keep up with their new lives any longer and told the wizard's wife."

Rose frowned, "How were they set back to normal?"

Scorpius ran his hand through his hair nervously, "Er, they didn't..."

"What do you mean—"

"They never fixed it..."

Rose slouched deeper in her chair, horror written all over her pale face. Then she jerked towards a pile of books on her left and browsed as if there was no tomorrow. "We _must_ find a way out! Go through the other books. Come on!"

"Hey, Weasley," Scorpius said lightly, as if his hair wasn't fiery red and he was still a Malfoy heir. "Do you know that Lindsay Lohan muggle chick flick."

Rose stopped reading her books and faced him with a _you're-insane _face, "You're insane! How can you think of a muggle film at a time like this? Plus, I can't believe you take interest in anything muggle-related."

"You say that as if you think I hate muggles—"

"Well considering your bloodline..."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. Again. "Anyway, so, do you know that movie?"

Rose looked hysterical, "Hello, Scorpius! We're not in a—a—girly movie discussion club discussing about girly movies in a girly slumber party! We _switched lives_. Will you please focus?"

"Chill, will you? We're not in a middle of some apocalypse. I was just trying to tell you about that Lohan girl's movie where in she and her mother exchanged—"

"You mean _Freaky Friday_? Malfoy you idiot; they exchanged _bodies_, not lives..."

"Oh yeah,"

Rose suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Let's be glad that didn't happen to us." She clutched her robes protectively around her chest.

Scorpius smirked, "Yeah, because I know I'd enjoy every minute of it when that happens." He gave her a head-to-toe look. Slowly.

"Oh you're a sick person!" Rose stood up and grabbed her books.

"Kidding, sheesh Rose," he rolled his eyes for the _nth_ time.

She stopped dead, "Did you just call me Rose?"

Scorpius smiled at her, a real smile. Not teasing or kidding or anything; it was on the verge of warm and friendly. "Yes I did."

But the blonde Rose only shook her head and pushed her chair back. "If I found anything useful, I'd immediately tell you in the morning. And, please, I'm hoping you'd do the same. You will, won't you?" She looked expectantly at him with those brown eyes.

Grey eyes stared back and Scorpius sincerely said, "Okay."

"Alright," she confirmed. "Goodnight."

"Sweet dreams," and Rose thought she saw a flicker of smile on his lips as he said it. But then again, a well-known Scorpius Smile usually meant no good at all.

Scorpius flipped the pages of the book in front of him at the same time he listened to Rose's footsteps growing fainter. He heard Madam Pince complain as Rose seemed to borrow three books at once. After a few moments, Rose left the library. Scorpius laughed quietly.

"Women are crazy," he breathed.

Just then, he heard quick light footsteps in the library. Rose was back. She was wearing a funny face that kind of looked frightened, but obviously she was trying her best to hold composure.

"Aren't you going to your dormitory yet?" she asked.

"Why?" Scorpius drawled.

"W—well I was just..."

"You're scared of going through the dungeons alone, right?" he quirked his eyebrows as if to dare her.

"No!" she said indignantly. "Not entirely...I—I'm...not _scared_-scared."

"Mm-hmm," he said as he hoisted himself up. "Listen, I've been passing through those dark eerie passages since I've entered Hogwarts, and let me tell you..." he paused for a dramatic effect. Rose looked at him. He then whispered seriously, "...there are ghosts and they like it when they see a girl, walking alone. They'd be very much pleased when they get a chance to—"

"You git—!"

Scorpius laughed out loud. "You _are_ scared! Would you like me to accompany you, my dear lady?" he mocked with a bow.

"_No_," she snapped. "Goodbye." Rose turned to leave but Scorpius grabbed her hand.

"I'd do it, you know," he said with a small smile. Rose tugged her hand away from Scorpius'. "Anyway, the mere idea of it seems, er, in good words...enticingly romantic."

Rose scoffed. "If you did it for six years, I sure can, too!"

Then she left without another word. After a few minutes of running in the dungeons, Rose reached the Slytherin common room. She still couldn't forget Scorpius' warm smile.

* * *

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	5. A Crying Rose and a Bloody Scorpius

_Chapter 5_

* * *

It was weird sleeping in the Gryffindor dormitories, that's for sure. The Slytherin dorms were...not homely enough compared in the one where Scorpius slept. He thought that his new bed was warmer. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the Slytherin dorms are located under the lake.

Scorpius got up and looked around groggily. Almost everyone was out of bed except Rick Thomas and Albus, who was snoring loudly.

"Oy, Al," he called. His cousin replied with a jerky snore. "Hey, get up."

Albus didn't move. Scorpius threw his pillow at him and he woke with a fresh trail of drool dripping from his mouth. "Sorry, poppypants!" Albus sat upright as Scorpius snorted.

"What are you doing?" he said, rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, sunshine," Scorpius joked.

Albus looked at his wrist watch then up to Scorpius, "Aren't you supposed to be at the Great Hall?"

"What?"

"You usually wake up before any of us does," he said with a confused face. "You hate the morning rush."

"I do?" But Scorpius realized he was supposed to be a male counterpart of Rose, and as everyone knows, Rose was an uptight nerd with a strict schedule. He cringed at the realization; it felt so weird in many ways. "I mean—yes, I do...Oh no," he did a bad acting of being worried. "I slept in...erm, I'll go...okay..."

Albus shook his head, threw the Scorpius' pillow at Rick to wake him up, and when Rick woke, he got back to sleep.

When Scorpius finished showering and dressing up, he grabbed the book he borrowed from the library. He hadn't finished browsing the book for something that could help him with his and Rose's case. He went to the Great Hall and found Rose standing by the Gryffindor table, looking like an exiled and lost child, while the rest of the Gryffindors stared at her with weird looks. Rose carried the three thick books she borrowed. Scorpius looked at his own book, which was far thinner.

"Hey Wea—er, Rose," Scorpius came to her.

"There you are!" she snapped while balancing her books in her arms.

"I slept in—"

"Well, whoopdie-doo! Come on, we've got to head out here. They're staring at us." How could they not? _The_ Rose Malfoy took _the_ Scorpius Weasley by the arm and dragged him out of the Great Hall (and she did this while carrying heavy books with the other arm). She's a monster.

"What—no breakfast?" Scorpius raised his voice.

"When your whole existence is in jeopardy, you should _not_ care about breakfast!" They got behind the statue where they talked in last night. Rose sent down her books on the floor and faced Scorpius with a _this-is-business_ expression.

"Well?" he said.

"Oh I haven't found anything!" Rose threw her hands in surrender. She lost her cool and determined composure and wore a panicked face. "Nothing at all! I've triple-checked every single page like a Santa Claus with OCD but _nothing_!"

She turned her back to him and just stood there.

"I haven't finished my book yet by the way," he said. "Maybe there's something in it. I'll read it later."

Rose moved her head slightly so that she could see Scorpius' book but also so that he couldn't see her face, then she said, "What, your book is, like...an inch and a half thick? What prevented you from looking through it last night? Your bloody red hair? Or maybe your brand new Weasley freckles!"

"Hey!" Scorpius reached up and ran his hand through his hair repeatedly. "It's not bloody red, it's _fiery_ red..."

Usually, Rose had a witty comeback firing from her mouth like a cannonball, but she stayed silent with her back still turned towards Scorpius.

"What? You're giving me a silent treatment?" he asked with a smirk. "Oh geez, Weasley. That's the oldest thing in the book."

_I bet you haven't finished reading _that_ book too, _Rose thought bitterly.

"Weasley?" Scorpius said. He reached forward to put his hand on Rose's shoulder but she jerked it away. "Weasley?...Oh come on Rose..."

He moved around to face her. Rose tried to turn her back again but Scorpius held her chin and lifted her face so that he could take a look. She was crying. Rose slapped his hand away and wiped her tears with the hem of the sleeve of her robe.

"Are you crying?" he asked.

"No, I'm _not_ crying," she said thickly. "Ogh, this is madness!"

"Madness? This is Sparta!" Scorpius joked in a weird buff accent and laughed, but seeing Rose took no interest, he coughed and stopped. It was so uncool. Even Scorpius had noticed it. _Must be the whole being-turned-into-a-Weasley thing_, he thought.

He was wondering if all the Weasley's didn't have a sense of humour (with Hugo's exception because he makes awesome fart noises, and of course, James Sirius, their cousin; he was the school's Prince of Prank, though they were not that close) when he noticed Rose bent down and picked her books and started to walk away. Scorpius followed her.

"Where are you going?"

"I am _not_ crying!"

"I was just asking wh—"

"I am _not_ crying!"

"I think we've established that..."

Rose stopped and smacked her face on her books and stayed there, shaking. Scorpius heard incoherent sounds. Rose shook again and gasped for air under her blonde hair.

"What?" Scorpius said.

Incoherent sounds. Shake. Gasp for air. Courtesy of Rose.

"Are you having a fit?" Scorpius asked. He was gradually feeling panic rise up inside of him.

Incoherent sounds. Shake. Gasp for air. Courtesy of Rose. Again.

"Ro—Rose...Wait—please, look here! Can you hear me?" he grabbed her by the shoulders. "Are you having a stroke and an epileptic seizure at the same time, if that's even possible? Grunt once if yes, twice if no."

Incoherent sounds. Shake. Gasp for air. Courtesy of Rose. One more time.

"Could you grunt again? I didn't understand...Hey, ROSE!"

"I _am _crying!" she sobbed after throwing her hair up to expose her face. Scorpius had to spit out a few strands of her blonde curls.

"Okay, you psycho, I know that _now_." Scorpius muttered sarcastically.

"I've never cried like this before," she sobbed and gasped and snivelled. "Ah—Ah...I've always got things...uh—under c-con—control and t-t-together. But now, look at me!"

"You're ugly," he said with raised eyebrows, as if it was one of the most obvious things in the world. Like Hitler having that ridiculous toothbrush moustache. "Everyone knows that. But a whole other people are ugly too, Rose," he said in a way he thought was comforting. "Even uglier than you. Don't feel bad—"

"I'm a mess!" she whined. "I never wished to be blonde! Okay, so maybe one time I did after watching Legally Blonde because of my mother's brutal encouraging...she wanted me to take time out from books and into films, but...I—I didn't wish to be _this_ blonde!" Then Rose buried her face in her books again.

"Alright," Scorpius muttered. "People are starting to look at us. You can stop with all that sociopathic teen drama."

Incoherent sounds.

"This is not a Jane Austen Biography film, Rose, come on!" he said. "You're not a sappy over-emotional teenage girl with a few...er, minor spell problems at the moment...You're Rose Wea—" he lowered his voice. "Weasley. Rose Weasley, do you hear me? You need to get it all together, suck it up and fix this mess! You're the brilliantly ingenious—erm, the—the brilliantly ingenious intellectual one! Who are you? Rose Weasley, come on, say it! Who are you?"

She peeked out from her books and blonde mane and said in a small voice "Rose Weasley?"

"Who are you?" Scorpius asked louder.

"Rose Wea—" she stopped. "_No_! I'm Rose _Malfoy_!"

"No no n-n-n-noooo!" Scorpius shook his head aggravatingly. "You may be a Malfoy now, but deep inside...right there at your heart," he pointed at her chest. "...lies a true Weasley. So I ask again, who are you?"

"Rose Weasley," she whispered after sniffing.

"Who are you?"

"Rose Weasley." She said louder.

"Who are _you?_"

"Rose Weasley!" She said louder than ever. Scorpius immediately covered her mouth with his hand and looked around, but good thing, nobody heard. If anyone did hear, they'd probably think Scorpius was trying to make Rose test how it sounds if they were married. Disgusting. "Not so loud, Weasel-bum!"

"Sorry,"

"Now, don't you go—all hysteric and er, sob-y again. Man, you're worse than my aunt Harriet when she was experiencing post-partum depression after giving birth to my little devil of a cousin..." he sighed. He never liked his aunt Harriet; she never gave him anything for Christmas. "Now off you go, wherever you want and I'll finish this book and tell you if there's anything that could help us. Go blow your nose or something," he pushed her away gently.

He stood there for a moment, watching her go with her head low and her arms clutching her books against her chest.

"Boosting self-confidence and repairing a broken spirit isn't easy, " he whispered to himself. "I'll never be a good life coach, hmph." Then he went to the Great Hall to eat.

He went over the book during History of Magic that afternoon while the rest of the class loomed over slumber. Generally, Rose's hand would be up in the air, calling for Professor Binns' attention to answer, but now, she sat gloomily on her chair. Her blonde hair was in a tight French braid. He heard Shawn Peakes, who was seated behind Rose, ask why she plaited her hair. She only said that she was just trying a new style, but Scorpius knew she was just not used to her hair all blonde and er, _controllable_.

"I think it looks shmexy," Shawn said.

Scorpius shuddered. Shawn was a creepy bloke. When she saw Rose's pale cheeks go pinkish, he curiously felt a stab of bitterness at the pit of his stomach. He didn't know what it was all about, but he hated the feeling. But then again, maybe it was just the second serving of poached eggs he had for breakfast.

No sign of help from the book so far. It was hopeless. He reached the last page and saw a small text containing what looked like a tacky advertisement. He read it and almost jumped from his seat when he found out what the advertisement offered. He scribbled the name and the address of the toothy wizard in the picture in a spare bit of parchment. When the class ended, he tried talking to Rose, but she was surrounded by her new friends-slash-his-ex-fangirls and Shawn, her boyfriend who did not know the difference between a continent and a country, but when you talk about Australia, it _is_ confusing.

He'd tell Rose later. It was urgent that he send an owl to this guy first.

. . .

Her friends noticed how red her eyes were. And also her braided hair.

"You look like you're going to attend a soirée with the Minister," Amara commented.

"And what's up with your eyes?" Sophie asked. "Poked yourself with eyeliner?"

That's why she didn't prefer socializing. Rose couldn't handle peer pressure with all the schoolwork and other stuff. Shawn snaked his arms around her waist. She made a mental note that Shawn was a tad bit sensual. And not in a good way.

"Saw you talking to Weasley this morning..." he said as they walked in the corridors. "Was he the one who made you cry or do I have to watch out for him? But I doubt it; he's no competition to me."

"Mm-hmm," Rose nodded a bit nervously.

"'Cause he's a Weasley, that's why..." he laughed.

She bit back the anger that rose in her throat. He's saying as if being a Weasley was a bad thing. She stayed silent for the whole day, thinking of something to do about the enchantment. She thought of telling a teacher, but if they didn't believe her...She needed to talk to Scorpius if he found anything useful—

"Rosie!" Amara said.

"What?" she snapped, although she did not mean to.

Amara looked cross, "I was asking you about what you'd wear for your date with Shawn."

Rose realized Shawn's arm wasn't around her waist anymore. He left.

"Where is Shawn?" she asked.

"He said something about Quidditch right after Mac told him something. I wasn't listening."

"Oh okay," She couldn't help being disappointed though. Shawn was _hers_. Well, at least there was a bright side with the whole exchanging of lives thing. Though she's not too comfortable that he suddenly was so intimate with her. She still isn't used to it and she has a thing for personal space.

"You're spacing out," Sophie said, rolling her eyes. "You know, _again_. What's the matter with you? You've been like that since last night."

"Space?" Rose said stupidly.

"What?" Amara scoffed.

_Oh I really just want to talk to Scorpius!_ She thought.

"Merlin's sweaty feet!" Rose stopped dead on her tracks.

Sophie looked annoyed. "I never heard you say that—"

"Quidditch!" she cried. "That's it—"

"Yeah, I just told you Shawn is going—"

But Rose cut off Amara, "Oh I hope he's still in the team now that he's a Wea—I mean, I have to go! There's a possibility he's there!" Then she ran off, leaving two baffled girls behind her.

. . .

"Great Scott! Seriously?" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Erm..." Albus stared at his cousin. "Yeah, what d'you—"

Lily piped in, "You're just kidding...come on, I want to watch all of you play. It's unfair that I get to try out _next _year. Really unfair."

"You had bad grades last year," James said with concern. "Mum and dad—"

"Yes, yes, I know," Lily rolled her eyes. "I'll go to take a seat out there." And she went out of the team's room.

"Scorp, anything wrong? And where's Hugo—oh, there you are. Malcolm, Richard, your bats with you? Jane, tie your shoe laces—"

"We'll be on brooms—" Jane said.

"Just tie them, will you?" James the Quidditch Captain bossed. "Al, there's dirt on your forehead."

"I'll get it off, mother," Albus muttered.

"And remember, you still owe me 5 sickles. Alright, team, we need to beat Hufflepuff—"

"The match is supposed to be after the holidays,"

"Yeah, and we're going to kick their fat arses because we're practicing even _before_ the holidays—"

"But it's snowing and it's cold!" Jane complained.

"You are such a girl, Jane!"

"She _is _a girl," Hugo defended.

"Get your brooms ready and go do some rounds on the field while I get the balls. Scorp, help, would you?"

All the players of the Gryffindor Quidditch team laughed. Except the Keeper, Jane; she rolled her eyes.

"What?" James demanded.

"Scorpius," Malcolm, one of the beaters, said. "Go help our dear captain to get the _balls."_

"Shut up," James stormed off, beckoning Scorpius to follow him.

"He chooses to be serious on Quidditch," Hugo said in a resigned tone.

"It's his middle name," Richard, another beater, informed. "James Sirius."

"Oy vey, Richard!" Albus groaned. "Not that pun again!"

Scorpius couldn't believe it. He was part of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Just minutes ago, he thought his life sucked as he was now a Weasley. Again, he thinks that there is nothing wrong with the Weasleys, except maybe Rose's strange father, but when you never imagined that your life could change and suddenly, it just did after a crazy woman's angry outburst, namely Rose Weasley, well, everything would pretty much suck for you.

"Scorp," James said. "You're spacing out."

"Wha—oh, right...the balls," he muttered.

James choked a laugh but had his determined Quidditch look on again before Scorpius could even see. "Maybe that does sound a little bit funny..."

They carried the chest outside, where their other team mates where doing circles in the air with their brooms. Scorpius saw Lily seating on the stands, along with a couple of girls. Some of them were giggling.

James set free the Golden Snitch and the Bludgers. "Alright," he told Scorpius. "You get on your broom. Thanks for the help."

Scorpius rode his broom and looked at the girls. He wondered if any of them were giggling for him. He hoped they did. Soon, James joined the players in the air, holding the Quaffle.

"I see you two already got the balls out," Albus chuckled.

"Just do your job and watch out for the Snitch, Al!"

It was a good thing that Quidditch was still around Scorpius' life. Back in his time as a Slytherin, he was a Quidditch Chaser. The wizarding sport was probably one thing he was better at than Rose. She wasn't one of the sporty type among the females of the Potter-Weasley clan; Quidditch was more of Lily's business because she was so like her mother, Ginny. But Rose, of course wasn't terrible at it. Actually, Albus told him about her when she used to play a little game of Quidditch during summers with her cousins. He knew that she liked flying with a broomstick. She can catch a Quaffle, and throw it (though not very far) but she wasn't awesome at it either. Rose doesn't seem to mind that Scorpius was a Quiddicth master compared to her. She wants more of an intellectual battle with him, although sometimes she can become a people-pleaser if it was needed to show Scorpius who was better—

"Agh!" Scorpius lost his grip on his broomstick handle for his hands flew straight to his nose.

"Oooh," said Richard. His face was scrunched up as if he can feel Scorpius' pain. "That's gotta hurt."

"Ib bus!" Scorpius replied thickly with blood, meaning to say _It does_.

"Oh no, your nose is bleeding!" Hugo cried.

"Let me see," James came to the red-haired Scorpius, and at this case, red-nosed. James Sirius Potter. Scorpius always thought he was a fun guy. He loved playing pranks, obviously living up to his two legendary namesakes, but he rarely saw the serious side of James Sirius. Scorpius almost laughed at the pun. _It was _punny, he thought. _Haha, punny and funny._

"What are you grinning at?" James asked.

"Nobing," he said.

James groaned. "Well, it's evident it won't be fixed with any spell I know. Best you go to Pomfrey. Looks quite serious. And don't you dare go to that pun."

"Hey, mate," Richard called as Scorpius slowly went down. "Really, sorry, alright?"

"Yeah whatever," He really didn't care. He never knew that that Richard kid existed until now, anyway.

"Oi, everyone!" Scorpius heard James call out to the Gryffindor team as he was on the ground already. "Practice is still on!"

The collar of his white uniform shirt was now blood red and half of his face was wet and warm. He had dozens of Quidditch injuries already and a broken nose was not at all that painful. Actually, the stolen kiss from a Ravenclaw named Kendra after the Slytherin won a Quidditch match (against the Ravenclaw, mind you) was more painful that his nose right now; she kissed him on the mouth and bit it. Scorpius' lower lip was swollen for two days until Madam Pomfrey could do something about it.

Scorpius was just having a montage of the hundred kisses he had from different girls (both hot and not) when he heard someone say, "Your blood matches your hair," It was Rose, who else?

"You shoulb know," he said. "This bas yours before."

Rose's remark about his blood and hair wasn't cutting or whatever; it sounded sad and longing. She definitely misses her hair.

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Nob breally," Scorpius noticed Rose's lips. "Are you bwearing lib gloss?"

She flinched violently and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Er, yeah. Sophie forced me."

"It looks ugly om byou," he shrugged nonchalantly.

Rose scowled, "Yeah, thanks."

Scorpius wondered how her lips would taste. Just curious. He kissed so many girls, with and without tongues. But Rose...well, he never imagined how it felt to kiss Rose. He walked nearer her and stopped just a few inches before her. She didn't seem to be bothered by it; in fact, she was smiling and staring right into his grey eyes.

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

He grabbed the back of her head and pushed her body against him, pressing his mouth to hers—

"Aren't you going to get your nose fixed?" she said as she felt Scorpius' awkward stare bore down on her.

Scorpius snapped out of his interesting reverie and felt blood drip down his nose. He shook his head. "Disgusting," he said.

"What is?" she asked.

She looked at her, then to her mouth. "Nobing," then Scorpius started walking away.

But she followed him. Scorpius hated that he even imagined kissing Rose. It was terribly out of character.

"What happened to your nose?" Rose asked as she walked behind him. "I was going to look for you. I thought you'd be in the Quidditch pitch—"

"Yeah, I was in the pitch," he said coolly. "I'm a Gryffindor chaser, as it happens."

She laughed nervously, "Well, could you imagine that? The team which Slytherin had the hardest time beating is now your team."

"I guess so,"

"Er, Malfoy..." she said hesitantly. "Scorpius..."

He glanced back a little, "What?"

"Have you found out anything from the boo—"

"My goodness, Mr. Weasley!" They reached the hospital wing and the school nurse saw Scorpius' bloody nose. "What happened?" She looked at Rose, who was standing behind Scorpius. "Did you do this, Ms. Malfoy?"

"Wha—no! No, no, no, no—"

"It was one of the Bludgers," Scorpius said.

"Bloody Bludgers," she said. "Let me check on that."

Scorpius' nose was bleeding so profusely that his shirt and his sleeves were smeared with blood. He sat on one of the beds while Madam Pomfrey dabbed cloth on his nose.

"Well, you have two cuts across your nose and probably some broken blood vessels too," she concluded. "I can fix that."

She went to a cupboard to bring out a brown bottle and a spoon. Scorpius noticed Rose still standing on the doorway, looking at Madam Pomfrey.

"Now, take this," Pomfrey said after she returned beside Scorpius. She handed him a spoon of thick dark brown liquid that bubbled. "Swallow that, inhale through your nose deeply and massage the bridge of your nose."

Scorpius did as what the nurse said, feeling conscious that Rose was watching. The medicine was cold and it felt good down his throat but when he massaged the bridge of his nose, pain immediately hit him. He stopped.

"Go on, massage it!" Pomfrey snapped.

"It hurts!"

"Now really? The syrup won't work if you don't massage your nose! The medicine will go up to your nasal cavity and form a pus which will explode in a matter of—"

"Alright, I'm massaging..." he said with a grimace. "Can't you just do one of those spells?"

"The medicine works better, I tell you," Pomfrey said. "But if I know anything about you, Mr. Weasley, is that you mostly get injured because of Quidditch or Ms. Malfoy's jinxes here."

Rose looked taken aback and blushed slightly.

"Now, dear me! You look like you've stepped out from those muggle zombie apocalypse films my nephew recommends that I watch."

"I don't care!" Scorpius spat. This woman went on and on about stuff. He doesn't really like nagging women. "Can you do something about this too?" He tugged on his shirt. He knitted his eyebrows.

"Work your manners, Mr. Weasley," the nurse said. "Goodness me, you've been a polite little dear before; what's gotten into you? Must be the medicine. No matter. Well, you can go now. But you have to continue massaging your nose for at least twenty minutes, remember that!"

Scorpius muttered with angst and went through the hospital wing's double doors. Rose followed him once more. She kept eyeing his shirt. Scorpius sighed and took it off. Rose was obviously surprised.

"Huh," Scorpius said, an amused smile played on his lips. "Like you haven't seen me shirtless before."

"As a matter of fact no," she took a quick embarrassed glance at him then to the windows they were passing by, her cheeks went faintly pink.

Scorpius was surprised. He was sure he went shirtless before for the past years, often after every Quiddicth practices and matches. "Well, look all you want, Weasley," he said seriously. "It's free."

"I'd rather not,"

Scorpius smiled. "Can you do something about my shirt though, so I could wear it so that you'd stop feeling uncomfortable?"

Rose was still looking away but she said, "Try _Tergeo_."

He held out his bloody shirt at arm's length and got his wand out from his pocket. He said, "_Targeo,_" The blood on his shirt was gone, but then it burst to flames. He let go of the burning fabric. "What the hell happened? What did you do, Weasley?"

"You bloody idiot! You go on blaming me again!" Rose looked at his hand blackened with soot. "You pronounced the spell wrong, that's what happened!"

"Oh damn it," Scorpius said as he noticed a group of girls coming their way. They were a few of his Hufflepuff fan-girls. And he was shirtless. Let's say he had a few scary experiences with this same scenario, so he was right to be scared. "Quick, give me your robe."

He grabbed Rose by the scruff while she struggled away from his grasp and kicked him. He was forcing her to remove her robe. "No—geroff! I don't want—this is _assault_!"

But Scorpius was successful and he immediately wore Rose's Hogwarts robe. He straightened himself up in time that the girls reached his way. He smiled his best smile, feeling confident that they would not attack him this time. (Yes, _attack_.) They definitely did not. Scorpius expected that they'd instead try to flirt with him, as those girls often did, but they gave him weird looks and passed him by. When they turned to a corner bend, Rose laughed.

"What—"

Scorpius glared at her, "Don't even say a word—"

"Were you frightened they'd try to sexually harass you while you're half-naked?" she said, pretty much entertained. "Apparently, you're a loser now."

"Yeah, because I'm supposed to be a male counterpart of yours, remember?" he snapped. Rose ceased laughing and looked deadly.

"_You_ said that night in the library that whatever is happening to us socially or personally probably depends on our reaction to this catastrophe," she replied. "Because we didn't turn into each other. You said that—"

"It was my theory,"

"Give me back my robe!" She tugged one of the robe's sleeves.

"No!" Scorpius resisted.

"Yes!"

"Rose!"

"What?" Rose said loudly, still tugging.

"Listen, I've found something that could help from the book—"

"Like I'd believe you! You're just saying that so I could stop and then you'd run—"

"No really, you muppet! There's a bloke who could help us. We'll meet him tomorrow at the Three Broomsticks! Four-thirty in the afternoon!"

Rose stopped, but she still held her robe, in case Scorpius would make a run for it. "But I—I have a date tomorrow."

"Yeah, me too, but just meet me there unless you don't want to return to normal—Wait, you have a date?"

Rose let go of the robe and fumbled with her hands, "Yeah...Shawn." Then she walked away hurriedly.

Scorpius will never ever understand Rose. Never.

* * *

_Well, apparently I have published the wrong chapter. This is embarrassing. Sorry._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	6. May the Force of Something Be With You

_Chapter 6_

* * *

Rose checked herself in the mirror. She looked pretty. She even felt pretty. She never felt that before. She was always the bushy haired girl who loved books. Just like her mother. But somehow, she thinks that she's more of her father. Rose was aware how judgemental she could be, especially towards the Malfoys. Double especially towards Scorpius. _Scorpius_. She shouldn't be thinking about that before her date with Shawn. _Shawn_. She felt sick just by thinking about him. Good sick, though. Not the kind of sick that Scorpius makes her feel. It was a terrible kind of sick. Kind of. Maybe.

She missed her freckles and her red hair, but Rose guessed she looked hot with blonde hair. Not herself, but yes, hot. For pete's sake, she was probably the most popular girl in school! Well, she was popular when she was still Rose Weasley, but her fame as Rose Malfoy was more...terrorizing. As a Weasley, she was popular because she was an interbreed of Hermione and Ron Weasley. She'll always live in their shadow...

She did her hair in a French braid again. She asked a fourth year to do it to her yesterday, but then she learned a spell so that she could do it to herself. Rose checked the mirror one last time before going out of the common room. Yes, she was pretty, and she felt confident. She didn't bother to look for Amara and Sophie; they annoyed her. Shawn said he'd meet her at Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. Typical for couples. Rose hated that place; it was too frilly. She preferred a date with Shawn making snowmen and snow angels and having snowball fights.

She thought she was alone when she reached the Entrance Hall, where Scorpius saw her.

"I thought you have a date," Rose told him.

"Yeah," he said. "I'll meet her in Madam Pudifoot's—"

"Oh no!"

"Don't tell me that's where your date is too?"

Rose nodded gravely, but Scorpius grinned. "This would be fun. I can show you how a _real _date is done."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose scowled at him as they obliviously started walking together out of Hogwarts.

"I mean, how many boyfriends have you already gotten before?"

"One—"

Scorpius snorted, "Shawn's your first? Understandable."

"No! Besides Shawn!" Rose said as she pulled her scarf tighter. "Henry Gordin. We were in our fourth year. Dad almost cried when he heard I started to see Henry. I told him we've been going out for more than three days. Oh, mum was worried but, you know, girly and happy about it. Dad, well, he…." She was smiling with a far-off look on her face.

Scorpius liked seeing Rose like that. She didn't look stressed or pressured, or dorky-bitchy. She looked…well, like a human.

"So you had just two already?" He asked, subtly ridiculing Rose's dating skills. "I definitely have to show you how to date—"

"Shawn'ns not my boyfriend," she mumbled sadly.

"Yeah right—"

She looked up at him. "No really. We're just together because I'm a Malfoy. When we go back to our normal lives, you'd see; Shawn and I won't be…"

"Well, who said that we'd go back to normal?" Scorpius joked, although he looked quite serious.

"But you said that guy could help us," Rose said. "Who is it anyway?"

"You'll see him," he said.

.

They reached Madam Pudifoot's. Scorpius spotted Veronica sitting on a far corner, facing towards the windows. He went towards her and took a seat opposite hers.

"Where's Al?" he asked. "And your friend, er, Carmen was it?"

"_Jen_," Veronica looked annoyed. "Your cousin and Jen decided to go to Honeydukes instead."

"So, okay, I guess I'm stuck with you," _Ooh, wrong thing to say, Scorpius!_ "I mean, did I keep you waiting?"

"What do you want to order?" she asked. Veronica looked really annoyed. She took off her jacket, revealing a pink tight sweater inside, with her chest looking like they were going to explode inside her clothes.

Scorpius stared strangely at it. He didn't get the impression that the girl in front of her was looking forward to their date, but her clothes were just too trying hard—

"Cake? I don't want cake," Veronica told the waitress. "Do you have the Peruvian green tea with cherry seeds?"

"Erm, we'll check on it," the waitress said boredly. "You, redhead?"

"I like coffee," Sorpius said. "Just plain old coffee. That's all."

The waitress went away. Scorpius tried to make a small conversation with his date.

"So, Victoria—"

"It's _Veronica_."

Scorpius wiped his face in frustration. This was going to be a long date.

.

Scorpius left her immediately at the entrance of the tea shop after he saw his date. _Veronica Samuels_? He was on a date with _Veronica Samuels_? Wow, Scorpius has totally lost his cool. Rose desperately looked around the room; she hated this place but what can she do? A cherub hovered in front of her, threw rose petals straight on her face and said he is going to direct her to her table. She followed the cherub and they ended up on a grand table, all frilly and pink. It was located on a far corner of the room, opposite Scorpius and Veronica's so that she couldn't see them.

"Where's Shawn?" she asked the cherub. The creature threw more rose petals at her then flew away, giggling. It was ugly. But suddenly, someone covered her eyes from behind her. Rose flinched and drew her wand.

"Hi babe," someone breathed on her ear. Shawn took off his hands and sat across her from the table.

"Hi Shawn," she said nervously. She could die right now. She and Shawn are on a _date_.

_But this is not real, Rose,_ a voice inside her said. _Once you're Rose Weasley again, he's gone._

"Do you like our table?" Shawn's hands crept towards her hand.

"Yes…"

The voice inside her head kept telling her that her relationship with Shawn was only going to hurt her, but she ignored it. She'll just enjoy it while it lasts.

. . .

Good thing it was snowing; there was ice everywhere. Scorpius grabbed a handful of snow from the ground in front of Madam Pudifoot's tea shop (the thrice-accursed place where couples of lovesick demons who are inclined to get glandular fever hang out) and placed it on the left side of his face. It stung at first, but he felt relieved. That Veronica girl was plausibly more psycho than Rose herself. Rose never slapped him on the face. Well, she did other terrible things like hexes and jinxes, and the latest was this enchantment, but she never was too girly to slap someone. As he constantly reminded himself, Rose wanted intellectual battles with him, most often ones that included the use of the wand. He looked at his watch, 4:50. He was supposed to meet Rose and Mr. Garfield Dornhill on The Three Broomsticks. Well, he'd better hurry.

He arrived at their meeting place, with him still holding a clump of snow against his face, and saw Rose sitting in one of the booths. She looked up from the book she was reading when Scorpius joined her. She narrowed her eyes when she saw the snow on his face.

"What is that?"

"Snow, stupid." He snapped. He removed the snow off his face, revealing a faint red mark of a hand across his cheek.

Rose's face broke into a beam, "That looks nice. What happened?"

"Where's Dornhill?"

"Who's Dornhill?" Rose said, still smiling at the red mark on his face. "What happened?"

"Damn it, he's late!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're late as well. I've been here punctually—"

"Yeah, yeah,"

"What happened to your face?"

Scorpius looked at her seriously. "Alright, I'll tell you, but no questions, snide comments…no interruptions whatsoever, got it?" He dramatically looked out the window and started, "Veronica and I were on a date—"

"What's wrong with you?" she snorted. "You look as if you're having an imaginary flashback. It's ridiculous."

"So what if I'm having an imaginary flashback?" he said. "It's fun. And I thought I told you no interruptions?" Rose raised her hands in surrender and shrugged. "Alright, I'll continue…

"Veronica and I were on a date and I have to admit…I was _not_ having a good time at all…

"I glanced surreptitiously at my watch. It had been 20 minutes and all we ever talked about was Veronica's diet. Actually, she was the only one who's talking. I had to remind myself to nod and say 'yeah' and pretend to look interested. All I could ever think about was how your date would go—"

"You were thinking about me?" Rose asked.

"No! I was thinking about your date."

"Why?"

"No interruptions, Weasley!" he said after stammering for an answer. Rose raised her eyebrows. "Don't look at me like that."

"Why were you thinking about my date?"

"'Cause I bet yours would be stupid," he said. "Now I'll finish my story, minus the flashback. Alright…I dozed off for a little while when she went to the loo. It was a horrible waiting, I'll tell you. Then when she came back, she splashed my coffee to my face. I woke up; I got angry and stood up to leave. A stupid cherub threw rose petals on me so I backed up and bumped against Veronica behind me. She tripped and grabbed my sleeve but she dragged me down with her so then we were lying on the floor with me face-down on her chest—"

"No way!" Rose exclaimed.

Scorpius thought of something to say and came up with "Yes way…" _That was lame and girly._

"Then?"

"Well, I immediately sat up, and I didn't realize I was straddling her. She sat up so I stood up and helped her stand up saying I'm sorry. She smiled frighteningly then slapped me. Real damn hard."

Rose's mouth was opened in a triumphant smile. Then she laughed boisterously. "No kidding? Oh Merlin, that's epic!"

"Shut up—"

"Ooohhh, I can't wait to tell Al—" Her face fell. She can't tell Al. He hates her now that she's a stupid hot blonde. Rose's grip on her book tightened insecurely. She cleared her throat and wore a fake smile and said, "Did the snow on your face work?"

Scorpius looked at her curiously. "Kind of."

"So, where is this Darnwill person?"

"Good afternoon, missy," a beefy man said, standing behind her. "Actually, it's Dornhill. Garfield Dornhill."

Scorpius stood up. "Mr. Dornhill."

"Sorry I'm late but I'm here now," he sat in a chair beside Scorpius. He was wearing a bowler hat and his face was all wrinkly but seemed friendly. His moustache made him look like a Mexican. "Mr. Malfoy," he nodded to Scorpius then looked at Rose. "Ms. Weasley, is it? I've received a letter from Mr. Malfoy saying that the two of you need my assistance—"

"He knows?" Rose asked Scorpius.

The redhead looked at Mr. Dornhill, "Excuse me." He stood up and sat beside Rose and whispered to her, "Well, not exactly. You see, I just told him we really need his help and I offered him some amount of money if he came here as soon as possible. I introduced myself as Scorpius Malfoy to him through the letter—"

"But are you sure he can help us?" Rose said, panic starting to rise inside her, fearing that her hopes will soon vanish into nothing.

"M-maybe—"

"Maybe!" she repeated.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure but there's a good chance so—"

"Can we please settle the matter at hand with me included?" Dornhill interrupted. "As it is my job, I believe."

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other meaningfully and then to the wizard sitting across them. Scorpius started the story. Of course, he didn't include their six-year long warfare; just the one that led to their mishap, and when Scorpius was done relating their account, Dornhill looked unmoved.

"Sure this isn't just a prank you two are pulling off on me?" Dornhill said seriously.

"No!" Rose said. "No, no, no! It really happened! I swear!"

"Alright," the old wizard said. "I've heard of strange stories, helped them fix it, and it's not the first time I heard one like yours. I could help you. I know exactly what could bring you back to normal."

Rose jumped on her seat in delight, "We could go back? Oh we could go back!"

"How can we go back?" Scorpius asked, not showing how equally delighted he was as Rose. It would seem weird if he started to squirm on his chair and shriek like a girl. Men don't do that. And Scorpius is a man.

"It would be hard," Dornhill said thoughtfully. "It could take years, so many years…but not that impossible. No, it wouldn't be impossible."

Rose calmed down and she stared at Dornhill, "_What_ could take years?"

"Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Weasley…This is no ordinary enchantment. It is a mild form of curse that exchanged your lives because of a deep and unresolved reason that both of you know but do not fully acknowledge. What do you think is the reason?"

Rose scoffed, "I hate his guts to the soul. I know it and I acknowledge it, so what seems to be the problem?"

Scorpius turned his head towards her. He was annoyed beyond sanity. "See! That's exactly why I never liked you since the beginning…why I befriended Al and not you!" He faced Dornhill. "This woman is mad! She hates me because of my lineage!"

"And your albino-blond hair."

"The said hair is yours now, stupid."

"Well if you just stop shoving your pale arse on my face and trying to be better than me then I wouldn't be—"

"What are you saying? Trying to be better—"

"Yes you are! On every test, every essay, every homework—"

"And what has my butt got anything to do with anything? How do you know its pale, huh—"

"Stop turning the subject about your derriere—"

"Oh so you have a rich synonymous vocabulary for butt—"

"Why are we talking about butts anyway?"

"Settle down, settle down, you two," said Dornhill with closed eyes. "If you want to fix this mess, we need full cooperation. Now do you want to fix this mess or not?"

"We want to," both mumbled shamefully at the same time.

"Alright," he said. "A mild curse, as I said earlier. Now it could be broken with the strongest force ever known to inhabit this world—"

"Murder?" Rose said with the utmost seriousness. "We could kill him," she jerked her thumb towards Scorpius. "Could that break the curse? I'm sure it will."

"Like you could do that," Scorius muttered. "Aren't you afraid your golden halo of gloriousness and all-goodness would be tarnished with evil?"

Rose opened her mouth to retort but Dornhill spoke before her. "This force is not related to homicide, much as you want." He seemed irritated. "The force I'm talking about is…" he looked dramatically at both of them. "Love."

Silence…

Then Scorpius and Rose burst out laughing.

"Ooh, _wuv_ is it?" Scorpius said as if he were cooing on a baby. "I thought the force he was talking about was like that in a Muggle film…you know, '_May the Force be with you_'."

"Well then I'd better go get my gown and wait inside a tower for my prince charming to find me. Then when he does, I'd let down my pale blond hair so he could climb," Rose snorted. "And he'd kiss me and we'd live happily ever after!"

She continued laughing hysterically, while Scorpius' fits were decreasing. "That wasn't even funny…."

Rose stopped laughing immediately, "I'll shut up."

"Are you done now?" Mr. Dornhill said.

"Yeah…" both of them muttered.

"Love," the wizard paused to see if the two teenagers would start giggling like idiots, but thank heavens, they didn't. "You two exchanged lives. You two are not yourself right now…or you _seem_ like you two aren't. People see you not the way you two should be. That is the problem at hand…_but_ if ever both of you find someone who _will _love who you truly are, then the enchantment is broken."

"What?" Rose said dumbly.

Scorpius sighed heavily. "We need to find….erm, true love or something. We need to find someone who'll love us as who we are." He said. Then he added, like he was talking only to himself, "Someone who'll love me as Scorpius Malfoy, not Scorpius Weasley."

"Exactly!" Dornhill exclaimed with a smile. "When that person sees you not as the others do, but as you see yourself, your true self, then you'll return to normal. Love brings out the best in us…the truth in us. The enchantment is a spell of fraud; the truth is the only way to break it."

"That's why it could take a long time for us to fix this," Rose realized. "Because I need to look for that _one_ person."

Dornhill cleared his throat, "I hope you understand that the spell can only be broken if the two of you are able to find those people. If Rose only finds hers and Scorpius does not, then it won't work. And vice versa."

"Geewiz," Scopius muttered.

"Any more questions?" Dornhill said.

"Zilch." the redhead said.

Rose shook her head.

"Everything clear? Okay, well, I must be on my way now." He stood up. "If you need anything, just owl me."

"How about the payment?" Scorpius said suddenly as he, too, stood up.

Dornhill smiled, "I'll let you two off the hook." he bowed to the two of them and left.

Scorpius sat down and faced Rose, who was staring intently at midair. "Are you dead?" He waved his hand in front of her. She didn't move.

"Almost," her voice barely a whisper but Scorpius heard it.

"Me too," He leaned back. "So…what do we do now?"

"Die," she scrunched up her face like she was about to cry. " AAAWWWW, MERLIN!" Rose stood up and went out of the Three Broomsticks. Scorpius followed her immediately.

Outside, the December air was bitter and freezing. Rose walked on a dim narrow alley and kicked a trash bin in frustration and a cat leaped out, hissing furiously at her. She growled at the stray cat and walked away but the cat charged towards her and scratched and bit her leg. Rose shook her leg as Scorpius went in haste to her. He grabbed the cat's tail and tossed it aside. The cat landed on its four paws and ran away. Scorpius turned around and saw Rose sitting on the dirty snow in the alleyway, her arms around her knees and her face covered by pale curls as she sobbed like a child.

Scorpius scowled but sat beside her. He tried to put his arm around her but before he could do so, Rose snarled, "Don't flipping touch me!"

She sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve. "This is horrible."

"Tell me about it," Scorpius muttered as he placed his arms around his knees too and stared at the opposite wall.

"I hate this."

"Tell me something I don't know,"

Rose pulled out a hanky and blew her nose, then stood up. "Well," she said forced-cheerfully. "I'd better get homework done before the holiday break starts." She walked away.

"What?" Scorpius got on his feet. Rose stopped on her tracks and turned around. "Just like that? You'll be in hysteria mode one second then the next, you'll just walk away as if nothing happened? As if you're not obliged to find someone who'll love you for you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," then she went on her way.

"What the hell," Scorpius muttered.

* * *

___Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	7. Impending Doom, I Mean, Going Home

_Chapter 7_

* * *

_Dear Diary_

Rose scratched the first two words she wrote on her notebook. They looked too girly.

_S'up yo_

Too ghetto.

_Greetings of peace and good welfare._

Too Queen Elizabeth the Second-y.

_Hey_

Maybe that will do for now.

_Hey,_

_This is Rose, chronicling the events that are taking action in my life as a thrice-accursed Malfoy who always has the perfect hair and the perma-smirk. I decided to do this because I don't have anybody to tell my story besides Malf—Scorpius, and I don't want to make him my psychotherapist because, hell, I don't like him. I call him Scorpius now because, technically, he's not a Malfoy now. Because now, I'm the thrice-accursed Malfoy who always has the perfect hair and the perma-smirk. And he's the brilliant flamey-haired freckley charming Weasley. Did I make sense? _

_So far, being a Malfoy is hard. And shameful. Right now, I'm in the Prefects' Compartment in the train going home for the holidays. Malfoy, I mean, Scoprius (ick) said that we should go to our respective homes for the vacation. He says that it would be a nice opportunity to be out there, looking for someone who could help break the enchantment. But anyways, I had to go because Mrs. Malfoy, erm, my mom, owled me a letter last week saying that she and Mr. Malfoy (my dad, ick)are really expecting me home. They're having a Christmas cotillion or soirée or whatever you call it. Our friends and relatives are coming over. Malfoy…Scorpius says that it's really important for me to be there. Mrs. Malfoy seemed like she really wanted me to be there so here I am, going to the Malfoy Manor for the holidays. Wow, that just struck me weird._

_I miss my family. And my home. This is all just plain stupid. I hate this. I hate this. I hate thi—_

Scorpius entered the compartment and shut the door.

"What's that?" he asked Rose, eyeing the notebook.

Rose slipped it under her leg and said "None of you business."

He slouched and wore a serious face. "Alright, so here's the thing: we're going home but we're really not going home. You're going to my place and I'm going to your place. You'll meet my parents and I'll meet yours—"

"Are you going somewhere with that speech?"

"What I'm trying to say is—"

"You're nervous?" Rose cocked an eyebrow. "Believe me, I am too."

"I just don't know what to expect." Scorpius shrugged and gave a shaky sigh.

Rose sat up straight. "Okay then," she brought out her notebook and tore a page. "You should probably know where certain rooms are, where we keep this stuff and that….you know, that kind of information." She bit her tongue in concentration while drawing. "Here's the first floor bathroom…the kitchen…the stairs to the basement….stairs going upstairs….my roo—"

Scorpius snatched the paper beneath Rose's pencil. "Wow, how ugly is this?"

"My house is not ugly!"

"I was talking about your drawing," Scorpius muttered. "But I guess it'll do—"

"That's not finished yet!"

He kept the paper in his jeans' pocket and said, "I'm not an idiot. I think I can explore your house without any map."

"Won't you give me a map of your house?" Rose asked w

" So…what do you call your mother and father?"

Rose was slightly taken aback. "Erm, mum and dad. You?"

"Mother and father,"

Rose snorted. "Mother and father? Seriously? That is so 1891."

Scorpius chose to ignore the ridicule. "So, mother mentioned something about the soirée—"

Rose groaned.

"Come on, it isn't so bad. You just have to wear a cocktail dress and make kissy-faces to your guests." Then he frowned. "Oh, I see what's bad about that. You'll look like a fat cow."

"You arse…." she muttered dangerously.

He turned serious. "You better not screw the soirée because it's really important to my parents. My father's business partners will be attending and you need to make a good impression as their daughter."

"Alright, alright…." Rose crossed her arms against her chest. "Well, seeing that the highlight of my holidays would be being Miss Pretty-and-Nice to strangers, what would be yours?"

"I don't know," Scorpius said. "You tell me."

"Well, we usually have a small dinner party with our closest families—"

"The Potter-Weasley clan…"

"Er, yeah. And sometimes we'd go some place and stay in some place. Last year we went fishing."

"Haha, fishing!" Scorpius laughed. Then he fell silent and stared at Rose.

"What?"

Scorpius leaned back. He never saw Rose _smile_-smile nowadays. "Nothing,"

Rose sighed and stared out of the window. "So, who usually picks you up from the platform when you go home?" Her eyes were longing.

"Most of the time one of the company drivers of my dad—"

"Wait, you go home by car?" Rose interrupted. "But, don't you think it's, like, too _Muggle_ for you?"

Scorpius smirked. Rose's lip twitched. _That smirk….._

"Father's fascinated with cars, really."

"Okay," she replied. "You said company driver? I never really knew what your dad's job is…"

"It's ridiculous, really. He part-owns some kind of Quidditch agency. I don't care, honestly. Apparently, he's an A-lister."

"But why hire drivers? You can just Apparate and stuff from the agency…"

"Father launched a program years ago for Squibs who don't have a job," Scorpius said nonchalantly.

Rose became pensive. She always had an unpleasant vibe against the Malfoys, especially after hearing stories of their service for You-Know-Who ages before. But if she only based her opinions on what Scorpius just said to her, Rose might actually like his father. It was as if Draco Malfoy was trying to redeem himself.

Well, too bad; Rose is prejudiced.

"That's nice," Rose murmured.

Just then the compartment door opened and the Head Girl and the Head Boy entered. They were hand-in-hand and were smiling at each other with googly eyes. It made Scorpius sick.

"You two only?" Davies, the Head Girl, said.

"Yeah," Scorpius answered.

"Well, alright, I guess we should wait for the rest," Head Boy Byron said as he and his girlfriend took their seats beside Rose.

Rose blushed profusely as the couple kissed, giggled and cooed at each other. She was so uncomfortable that she was shrinking into her seat. Scorpius, meanwhile, enjoyed the view. Their hands were all over each other and Scorpius was quite sure that he heard Byron uttering dirty words towards his girl's ear. The lovesick lizards.

He was trying his best to hold his laughter, but he took the mistake of glancing at Rose, whose face was flat against the window. Her eyebrows were knitted in frustration and she was flinching every time Davies moans or giggles. Scorpius couldn't suppress his laughs any longer.

"Can you please do each other someplace else," Scorpius said as he swallowed his chuckles. When the lovers looked at him with annoyed faces, he pointed at Rose, who was pink in the face.

"Alright," Byron grunted.

"You think she's having an orgasm or something…" Davies whispered as they shut the door.

Rose buried her hands on her face and groaned, "Oh that was awkward!"

Scorpius cackled and transferred beside her. "I think you've never actually experienced second base minor league."

"What?" Rose scowled. "What's minor league?"

"It's when the male—"

"There you are!" Albus said after opening the door. "Scorp, come on! You've got to see this! Hugo's blowing a giant bubble of snot from his nose!"

"I'll be there," Scorpius said as he gave Rose a knowing and mocking look. "We will continue this talk later."

.

The train ride was over before Scorpius could even notice it. It was quite fun actually, well, not the entire trip. He spent 49 % of his time patrolling with the other prefect students back and forth the Hogwarts train, and the other 49% of his time hanging out with Albus, Hugo, Lily, James and all the other offsprings of the Potter-Weasley clan. He never had this big family, being an only child with his parents always busy with work or other stuff.

The remaining 2% he had was wasted on seeing Rose in the arms of the Shag Monster Shawn. It was despicable. And Rose seemed to be enjoying the groping and all. He wondered what it would be like if _he _was the one doing it to Rose. He expected he'd gag at the thought, but he was surprised to find that he's enjoying himself.

Speaking of Rose….

"Hey," she said as she pulled her luggage behind her going down the train after Scorpius. "Where are the others?"

Scorpius dropped his bags on the platform and helped Rose with hers, as it got stuck on the doors. Normally, he wouldn't have done that. But these past few days, Rose was treating him nicely…and he felt obliged to do the same.

"Oh thanks," she muttered. They dropped the luggage on the floor.

"I dunno," he replied. "They're somewhere still inside, I guess."

Scorpius glanced at her and she was looking sadly at the parents waiting for their children in the train station. "Well, enjoy the holidays," she looked up at him with a bright smile on her face.

"You too," Scorpius said sincerely but hesitantly. "Er, listen, Rose…"

"Yeah?" She looked expectantly at him. Her hands were fidgeting and she was obliviously biting her bottom lip. He ran his hands through his hair. Somehow, Rose looked different; she didn't look like her always-ready-to-oppose-Scorpius self. And she was biting her lip. Scorpius stared. She was biting her lip…

"Hello?" Rose said.

"Erm, if you need help with anything, just owl me or something. Alright?"

Rose smirked in a challenging way,"Anything?"

Rose _smirked_? Scorpius smiled. "Yeah. I thought it would be best if we would help each other."

"Sure," she nodded and dragged her luggage as she went away, looking around.

Scorpius sighed. Hey, she looks good in jeans.

Moments later, he was joined by his cousins, all one thousand of them. Albus was his best mate, and so it wasn't at all weird with him. But the others…it was just a little unusual. But all the same they were fun to be with.

"Hey Scorp, have you seen mum and dad?" Hugo asked him.

"No," Scorpius replied, looking a little startled. "I—I haven't seen them."

"Look! There they are!" squealed Lily as she pointed.

And there they were. Harry and Ginny Potter and Ron and Hermione Weasley. All of them got their bags and walked towards their parents to embrace them. The last one to reach them was Scorpius, who seemed to feel a tad out of place. He only stood there, watching them awkwardly.

Mr. Potter clapped the back of Albus as they chatted away about the latest Quidditch game of the Wimborme Wasps against the Falmouth Falcons. Mrs. Potter tried to kiss his eldest son on the cheek but failed because James kept wriggling away from his mother's embrace. She ruffled his son's hair and proceeded to embrace Lily, who updated her about getting an O in her Potions essay and an E in her Charms practical test, probably hinting that she's keeping on the right track of her grades for the sake of trying out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team next year.

Hugo, meanwhile, was telling his parents about his successful attempt of blowing a big snot bubble from his nose, and prepared to demonstrate it until Mrs. Hermione Weasley patted her son's head and gently said, "How about another time, dear? We don't want to have a mess in here…" Hugo shrugged happily.

Mrs. Weasley spotted Scorpius and hugged him warmly. She held his shoulders and stepped away, taking a good look at him.

"My son's not a little boy anymore," she said sentimentally.

"Er…" he tried to smile. _What am I suppose to say?_ he thought.

Someone then tousled his hair from the back. He turned around and he found out that he was face-to-face with Mr. Ronald Bilius Weasley. Scorpius concealed his shudder with a shaky laugh.

"Dad…" he greeted.

"Well, Scorp, I swear you've grown taller about a good two inches," Mr. Weasley remarked with a grin.

"Yeah, I guess," said Scorpius, whose anxious smile was frozen on his face.

"Well, then, let's get to the car," Mr. Weasley said as he took Scorpius' sling bag and carried it himself. "We're going to have a lot of fun this Christmas."

"Super," Scorpius mumbled.

The Weasleys and Potters exchanged greetings of_ see-you-soon_ and _have-a-safe-ride-home_, and then they were off. The Weasleys got in their car outside the train station.

"Buckle your seatbelts, kids," Mr. Weasley said excitedly.

"Sweetie, maybe I should drive?" Mrs. Weasley gently offered. Mr. Weasley rolled his eyes, groaned and went out of the driver's seat at the same time his wife went out of her seat. They exchanged and they were good to go.

Mr. Weasley saw Scorpius' apprehensive face on the rearview mirror and said, "Scorp, are you alright?"

"Er, yeah….dad…" he managed to say.

Mr. Weasley smiled warmly.

.

Rose, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the platform, and looking around for who-knows-who. Scorpius said a company driver picks him up….a person Rose won't be familiar with.

Rose jerked her head when she felt someone grab her luggage. She turned around and saw a wrinkly seventy-something-year-old man. She gripped her luggage tightly and shrieked, "What do you think are you doing, sir?"

"Why, I was—"

"This is mine!" She pulled her luggage from the old man's hands and took a step backwards.

"Miss Malfoy, I was just taking it to the car," the old man said meekly.

Rose's paranoia was wiped off and she dumbly said "Oh,"

So, turns out, he was the company driver. The old man smiled and she noticed that some of his teeth were missing, "Sorry for startling you like that, miss."

"Don't apologize!" Rose said politely, which surprised the old man. "I was just….fooling around." She faked a laugh. "I ate too many Chocolate Frogs on the Express for my own good. Haha….ha…."

The old man nodded slowly as a confused smile was etched on his face. Rose was able to take a peek on his ID and found out that the nice old Squib's name is Leroy Conroy. It rhymed, and she was able to suppress a snigger.

Mr. Conroy dragged the luggage with his seemingly feeble arms but Rose obliged to help him with it, which, again, surprised him. They reached a shiny Maybach limousine and Rose just couldn't help but ogle.

"Is something wrong, Miss Malfoy?" the Squib-chauffer asked.

Rose's eyes widened. "Wrong? Hell no! Nothing's wrong….That is just a….lovely car." She said adoringly.

"That old thing is the same car you've used for the past six winter holidays," he said, amused.

"Oh well, I'm just….erm, my sense of appreciation is—is intensifying, I guess" Rose covered lamely.

Mr. Conroy opened the car's door for Rose and she almost _ooh_-ed and _aah_-ed and _ooh-la-la_-ed once she was sitting on the luxurious passenger's seat.

"Look!" Rose exclaimed as she noticed a couple of buttons attached to the door where the winding thingy was supposed to be. "There are buttons! And there's no winding thingy that makes the windows go up and down!"

"I reckon you're exciting yourself too much, miss," Mr. Conroy remarked with a chuckle as Rose pushed the buttons and the windows went up and down and up and down and up and dow—well, you get the picture.

And then Rose remembered she was supposed to stay cool, calm and collected. _To hell with it_, she thought. Then she played with the buttons again.

Rose was drooling asleep when the limo reached the Malfoy Manor. The big gates creaked open and she jerked awake. Mr. Conroy opened the door and she awkwardly stepped out of the fancy car, staring dumbly at the huge house in front of her.

"Dearie!" Someone said. "Welcome home, my sweetie!"

It was Astoria Malfoy. Rose gulped. Mrs. Malfoy walked down and hugged her daughter. Shel looped her arm around her waist and led her towards the Malfoy Manor's doors.

"I missed you so much," Mrs. Malfoy said. "Your father will be home late tonight but he wishes me to send you his excitement to see you…"

They went inside the manor and Rose was greeted with a beautiful and fancy flower arrangement and an elegant cake with words "We Missed You, Welcome Home Rose" iced on the surface.

"Don't you think it's, I don't know, overdone?" Rose said nervously.

Mrs. Malfoy faced her with a warm and big smile. "Anything grand for you, my cute little poochie-pooch."

_Poochie-pooch?_

* * *

_Not one of my best chapters. Nothing happened in here. It's stupid. But next chapter is awesome! Haha! Don't worry._

_Review and we'll be friends!_

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	8. Yes, They Don't Like Each Other

_Chapter 8_

* * *

Large bedroom. Ensuite bathroom. Own balcony. Huge library.

What's next?

"Miss, your mother thought you'd want cookies for your snack," Frompy, the Malfoys' house-elf, said with a plate of huge chewy-choco cookies, It was typical of a Malfoy family to have a house-elf so Rose was not surprised. Like her mother, she feels sorry for the creatures, but whenever she sees them happily and loyally serve their masters, she thinks that she doesn't need to interfere with their unusual delights.

"Oh cookies!" Rose exclaimed and tasted one. "Mmm, This is _good_! Did Mrs. Ma—did er, mother…made these?"

"Yes, miss," Frompy nodded. "Do you need anything else, miss?"

"Er, no Frompy," she replied with a smile. "Thank you."

The house-elf smiled gleefully, bowed and headed out of the room while audibly whispering, "Miss Rose is being very nice to Frompy. Frompy feels like she is a very good elf, oh yes she do."

Rose smiled to herself. At first, the concept of living inside the Malfoy Manor as a Malfoy scared her out of her wits. Dirty motes, coffins, eerie corridors, scurrying rats, stinky dungeons and despairing prisoners would enter her mind. But now that she was here, it seemed like a pretty normal home. She found out from Frompy that the Malfoys refurbished the mansion some time after the war. Rose saw pictures of the old mansion in the library. It used to be dark and spooky. The transformation was amazing. The manor was now bright and cheerful-looking without erasing its regality and finesse.

But all the same, she terribly missed her home. She longed for her family.

She planned to write it in her new journal, but decided she was too lazy for it. She may have gotten her intelligence from her mum, but it appears that laziness can be inherited to….from Ron, of course. Rose lied down on her queen-sized canopy bed fit for a princess. The sheets didn't smell like home.

"Rose, darling," Astoria entered her room.

Rose sat up, "Yes m—mother?"

"You like the cookies?"

Rose nodded.

"I've been learning a few recipes." Astoria sat on the edge of her bed. "As you know, our Yule Soirée will be held in three days' time, the twenty-second of December. And of course you need a dress because any of your old ones just won't do. We'll go shopping tomorrow, alright?"

"Erm…alright," Rose said.

"Are you okay, dear?" her 'mother' asked with a very concerned face. "You look clammy."

"I'm just nervous for the soirée, mother," Rose gave a shaky laugh.

Astoria relaxed and smiled. "Oh don't be. You'll look gorgeous, as always, and the party will be brilliant. Alright, you probably need some more rest after your trip home. If you need anything, I'm in my study, planning last-minute arrangements for the party." She patted Rose's hand and left, not noticing that her 'daughter' flinched upon her touch.

Her room's door closed and she took a deep breath. Rose grabbed a piece of parchment, a quill and an inkwell from the drawer of her bedside table and wrote a letter to Scorpius.

_Scorpius,_

_How are you doing there? How's mum and dad and Hugo? Your mum is fine and I haven't seen your dad yet because your mum said he'll be coming home late tonight. Your house is lovely. And your mother bakes brilliant cookies. Speaking of baking, has mum already made you eat her dreadful festive fruitcake? I hope you pretended to like them. Granny Weasley makes better ones. You just wait for it because she sends them to us especially during Christmas. And your mother and I will be shopping tomorrow for a new dress for the party. Does she usually shop with you? I hope you're alright there._

Rose re-read the letter she made and she decided it was corny but quite friendly. She scribbled _Rose_ on the lower right-hand corner, folded it and wrote the address outside. She looked for Frompy to ask where the owls were. Frompy insisted that she would make the efforts of attaching the letter to one of the family owls and send it.

Rose got back in her room and patiently waited for Scorpius' reply.

.

Scorpius was forced in a game of wizard's chess with his brand new daddy, Ron Weasley. He knew how to play but he wasn't as good at it as Rose is; that he admits. He was being buried alive by Rose's father and his pride was utterly wounded. What a nice way to start the winter break.

_Tap! Tap! Tap!_

A gray owl was perched outside the window sill of the Weaskey's living room. Scorpius recognized the owl, Metis, and instantly rushed to open the window. A letter was attached to it and he untied it from the owl's leg.

"Hi Metis," he murmured as he stroked the owl's head. Scorpius peered at the writing outside the letter. It was Rose's penmanship. Well, who else would send him a letter using one of the Malfoy's owls?

"You don't want to play anymore, Scorp?" Ron asked as Scorpius ran upstairs with the letter on one hand and the owl resting on his forearm.

"Er, no Mr. W—Dad," he hollered. "Sorry. But it's obvious that you win."

Scorpius shut the door, unfolded the letter and read it. Merlin, Rose was being a conversationalist. She's probably bored inside her new house. He found some parchment and wrote quickly.

_Your parents are fine. Hugo is fine. Your house is fine. Still no fruitcake, I'm afraid. And yes, mother frequently fusses about my fashion, so it's normal. Don't worry; shopping with her isn't as torturous as listening to you rant about whatever you rant about. Just kidding. I'm okay here. I hope you're in good conditions as well._

He felt a little guilty for giving a curt reply. He tied his reply on Metis' leg and set her off out of his window. Scorpius sat down on his bed and pulled out his wallet. And out from it, he got a photo that Albus used as a bookmark when he borrowed his Charms book. After finding the picture, Scorpius didn't think of returning it.

In the photograph were Albus, Hugo, James, Lily and Rose. Rose was laughing. Her eyes blinked dreamily, her lips moved beautifully, her hair was being blown by a breeze and it made her heavenly. No, she did not fancy Rose Weasley…No, that was impossible. If he did, he would have to be breaking about a thousand laws of Physics. He can never fancy Rose. Not ever. Scorpius groaned.

Okay, so maybe he admired her.

It's just admiration, really. Rose is smart and caring and genuine. She's also beautiful in his eyes. Her brown eyes, even when they're tired because of reading books endlessly. Her curly red hair. Her freckles. Her hands, especially when they're dirty with ink after hours of pouring over essays. Her mouth. Oh Merlin, that mouth! That mouth won't just shut up! Her firing insults to him makes him fire insults to her. If she just learned how to be friendly to a Malfoy, they would be good buddies right now.

Actually, that was his mindset when he got on the Hogwarts Express on first year: to befriend Albus and Rose, because his father took care that he grew up with good values, unlike him when he was young. Albus was very kind to him, although he noticed how wary he was when Scorpius first said hello. But look at them now, best mates. Rose, on the other hand, was the trickiest girl…scratch that...she was the trickiest breathing living creature he ever met. When he expects her to go left, she goes right. When he expects her to jump up, she crouches down. The only predictable things about her are her hand up in the air to answer a teacher's question and her irrepressible dislike towards him.

Sometimes, he wishes he would be a different person. For Rose, he'll always be a Malfoy, not his last name was the only thing preventing Rose to be close to him, then screw it. But now he got his wish. He's a different person. He's a Weasley, for Merlin's sakes!

At least Rose was gradually becoming nice to him.

"So whose picture are you wanking on?" Scorpius jumped when he heard Hugo's voice.

"Hugo," Scorpius said as he placed the photograph back on his wallet. "When the door is closed, it means the person inside doesn't want to be disturbed."

"Mmhmm," his 'brother' nodded mischievously. "I've been there, mate. Sorry to disturb you."

"I was not wanking, you prick,"

.

The next day, Ron took Hugo and Scorpius to Diagon Alley to purchase some necessities for their ski trip, which was scheduled on the same day that the Malfoy's party was happening. As much as he wanted to try out skiing, because sliding on snow down a steep hill with two narrow strips of wood attached to your feet sounded adventurous, he also wanted to gatecrash the soirée just to check on his family. And of course, Rose.

"Dad, look!" Hugo said, pointing at a merchandise displayed on a shop's window. "A bubble gum that makes you breathe fire! Ooh, ooh! That one…no, the orange mittens! Yeah, that one. It can melt ice. How cool is that?"

"Hugo that's ridiculous. Why would anybody want to buy those stupid things?" Ron remarked. "This is why your mother doesn't want to shop with you. You point a lot of things…"

Hugo pouted childishly.

"Scorp, are you looking for something?" Ron asked his 'son'.

Scorpius didn't even notice that he was glancing this way and that. "No, M—dad." _Yes, Mr. Weasley. I'm actually looking for your daughter._

His mother, his real biological mother Astoria, usually takes him to shop for new formal wears and all those stuff in different boutiques in Diagon Alley. Rose said in the letter that they would be shopping tomorrow. Today is tomorrow. So, he might see Rose.

"No, you're looking for something," Ron said knowingly.

"D—dad, can I erm, be excused?" Scorpius asked. "You two can go ahead; I'll just catch up. Alright?"

"Sure,"

Scorpius went away and headed to the boutique where his mother usually took him when he needed new dress robes. _Twilfit and Tatting's _stood with ostentatious pillars of shiny dark wood. He peered through the fancy double glass doors of the shop and saw Astoria Malfoy levitating three elegant dresses in midair while talking to a saleswitch, who seem to be explaining the good quality of each dress. In the middle of the circular boutique were a series of circular fitting rooms with curtains of gold satin. The smell of perfume reached his nose. Scorpius didn't really like this place; it was too fancy.

Rose emerged from one of the curtained compartments wearing a small sparkly purple dress. Her hair was a mess and her frown expressed her utmost dislike for the wear. She spoke to Astoria, who was circling her. "I don't think it looks good on me," Scorpius read her lips.

He smirked. She actually looked good in it, if she just quit pulling the dress down her legs and up her chest. Astoria held Rose's shoulders and made her face Scorpius' direction as she unzipped the dress. Scorpius waved at Rose and when he caught her attention, she jumped so violently that she stumbled to Astoria. Rose was pink in the cheeks as she said her apologies to her 'mother'. Astoria laughed heartily. Meanwhile, inside the boutique…

"Er, mother?" Rose said reluctantly as Astoria straightened her skirt.

"No, I'm alright, dear," Atoria reassured her. "I just find it peculiar; why did you jump like that?"

"Oh you see…I erm, I just remembered that you made me remind you before we left that…we erm, need floral arrangements for the centerpiece of the tables…" Rose looked down as she lied.

"Really? Well, I don't remember that…I think I told you that little ice sculptures would be the centerpieces."

"Right! Ice sculptures…oh yeah. Silly me, thinking it was a flower arrangement. Sorry. Must be the exhaustion from trying out dresses and stuff…." She mumbled.

"I know what's going on…" Astoria smiled slyly.

Rose looked up. "What?"

Astoria laughed. "You don't like the centerpiece, don't you? Well, alright, what do you like? I should be able to go to _Dandy Decors_ down the block to change the ice sculptures to whatever you fancy, while you try on more outfits."

It was an opportunity and Rose took it. "Erm, you got me, mother. I—I think I, er, like, erm…have you heard of the, ah, sparkling fig twigs? They glow and sparkle and I think that would be, erm, lovely. They're harmless. They don't cause fire."

Her mother smiled. "Well, you know the latest trend, so I'll go with that. Over there are some clothes I think would be exquisite for you. See if you like any of them while I'm gone. The saleswitch would be of help, should you need any. I'll be back, sweetheart." She gave Rose a motherly tap on the cheek and exited the boutique.

Rose raked her eyes outside until Astoria was nowhere to be seen, and then she motioned Scorpius, who was hiding behind a pillar, to come inside quickly. Scorpius came in, ignoring the saleswitch's questioning eyes.

"Looking good, Rose," he snickered.

She flushed and shifted uncomfortably. "It's too short. Anyways," her expression changed to relief and annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you," Scorpius replied, taking a comfortable seat on one of the luxurious sofas in front of Rose.

Rose sighed exhaustedly and sat beside him. "Oh Scorpius," she said quietly. The sound of his name from Rose's mouth sounded nice, rather than hearing the name _Malfoy_. "I don't think…I don't think I can survive this mess." Her eyes fell upon him, and she smiled. "And saying your first name sounded really weird, didn't it?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "But I prefer that."

"Oh you do?" Rose said shamefully.

Scorpius noticed Rose looked awkward so he changed the subject. "So, erm, your mu—" he noticed the saleswitch, "—my mum stayed home today to bake the fruitcake. Is it really that bad?"

"K—kind of; well, it's hard and dry and the fruits are all—" Rose stopped dead as she saw Astoria Malfoy walking towards the boutiques front door, observing her nails. Rose pushed Scorpius up and into one of the fitting compartments. "Stay quiet!" she breathed.

"Er, hullo mother!" she said in a shaky voice. Scorpius groaned; this girl is pathetic. You can tell she's hiding something. "Wh—why are you back so early?"

"Oh," she sighed and sat on the spot on the sofa where Scorpius was on just moments ago. "The designer I talked to a week ago was not yet in the office. The manager said he'll be late. I'll just wait here; the atmosphere in _Dandy Decors_ is ghastly! There has been a drastic temperature change after a weather charm gone wrong by one of the trainees. Ooh, look at this green one, Rosie. Try it."

Astoria shoved a dress to Rose and the blond hesitantly walked towards a changing cubicle, where Scorpius was. Then she turned around. "Mother, I think I'm tired of—"

"Nonsense, sweetie! You try that on. You still haven't gotten a dress, for Merlin's sake!"

Rose stifled a groan and went inside. Scorpius was staring at her, wearing his infamous yet very appealing smirk. "You need my help?" he breathed.

"No, turn around!" she hissed.

He took the dress from her and examined it. "Looks difficult to manage…sure you don't need help?"

Rose grabbed the dress, but he resisted. She kicked him on the shin ("Oof!" exclaimed Scorpius), attempted for the dress again (this time, successfully) and forced him to face the wall. He faced her back.

"Turn around you stupid idiot!"

"Rose, are you alright?" Astoria called. "I heard something."

"I'll be right there, mother," she answered. She reached up and gingerly switched the light off.

"I like the darkness," Even Rose could feel Scorpius smirking in the dark.

"Damn it! Turn around now!" she whirled him around once again and pushed him harshly against the wall, making him grunt in pain.

"What was that?" Astoria asked from outside.

"N—nothing mother," Rose answered. "I'm fine. No need to worry. Stay where you are. Please."

The saleswitch looked at Astoria knowingly. The aristocrat began, "If there's any trouble—"

"No, mother! No trouble at all." She breathed deeply and looked at Scorpius, who was shaking with silent fits of laughter and who has nicely remained facing the wall. Rose tiptoed to reach his ears and whispered frantically, "Turn around to take a peek and I swear, I'll poke your eyes out and hex you to next year!"

"Really?" he spoke in a low voice.

"Yes," and she took a step back and unzipped her dress. She eyed the back of Scorpius' head darkly and turned around, so that they were back to back. She put on the green attire as quickly as she can but found the problem that the zipper got stuck midway the dress.

"Rose? You're taking ages in there. I'm coming—"

"NO, MOTHER, PLEASE! I'm almost there! Stay out there!"

"Alright," Astoria said impatiently.

"Oh bugger!" Rose hissed as she jammed the zipper up, which remained stuck. Scorpius turned around and held her shoulders.

"Here," he fixed the zipper and pulled it all the way up. Scorpius made her face him and smiled. "I told you, you need my help."

It was dark but Scorpius can see how Rose looked. Her hair was a mess from all the hurrying, along with her wrinkled dress. She looked beautiful, though. Scorpius pulled her cap sleeves firmly to raise up the scoop neckline that threatened to make her chest a thrilling view, and yes, he was looking at them but thankfully he remained composure. He glanced quickly at her and saw an expression of awkwardness and gratitude. He then proceeded to straighten her skirt and gave her a once-over. And of course, he smirked.

She looked at him straight to the eyes. Her breath hitched as she drowned it the grey calmness of his eyes. Rose forced herself to look at his chest instead and can't help notice its entrancing heaving as he breathed deeply and slowly.

"Er—" Rose started but was unable to phrase out whatever she was going to say when Scorpius lifted her chin with his two fingers.

"Don't worry," he said in a hushed voice. "You look…you look great, Rose."

She can tell that he was sincere. She said, "Thanks."

Rose smiled, pushed him to the farthest side of the small cubicle, and stepped out to satisfy Astoria's growing and dangerous impatience. Well dangerous, because if she ever got more impatient, she might go inside and see Scorpius and Rose. And then who knows what might happen.

Scorpius leaned on the wall and placed his hands on his pockets. He heard his mother, or rather, Rose's mother, Astoria, exclaim in admiration at Rose's look. _Admiration_. Scorpius relied far too much on the word. He wasn't sure if he was being completely honest with himself.

"Oh Rose, darling, you look absolutely lovely!" Astoria said as she twirled Rose to check on her whole appearance. "Do you like it? I do!"

"Yeah, s'okay," Rose mumbled.

The doors of _Twilfit and Tatting's _rang and some uniformed young wizard called out, "I'm here to inform Mrs. Astoria Malfoy that Sir Grieg Varlemoosh has arrived to discuss decoration matters and to do business."

"I'm Mrs. Astoria Malfoy," Astoria raised her hand elegantly. She turned to Rose. "We'll purchase this, but just to be sure, go and pick a couple more dresses, alright? I'll be back, sweetheart." She kissed her on both cheeks and left the boutique to go to _Dandy Decors_.

Rose exhaled and slumped on the sofa. Scorpius came out and took the seat beside her.

"That was _close_," Rose sighed. "_Too_ close."

"But on the bright side," Scorpius leaned back, looking sideways at her. "You look stunning, love."

"Don't call me love, you prat," Rose scrunched her face.

Scorpius chuckled. "Don't call me prat, _love_."

The saleswitch coughed ostentatiously while going to the back room of the shop. Rose turned to him, "You better leave before _mother_ comes back."

Scorpius fake-groaned.

"Come on, get your arse out of here," Rose pushed him up.

He smirked and ruffled her hair. "You clean up good, Weasley." He said quietly so that Rose could only hear it.

"Shut up," Rose said, but can't help smiling. Then he left.

Rose stood up and picked a silver-blue dress from the pile Astoria got. The saleswitch emerged from the back room. She looked at Rose, her eyes were mischievous and a smile was tugging on the corner of her lips.

"Had fun back in there?" she jerked her head to the fitting room's direction.

"No," Rose exhaled indignantly.

"Mmhmm," the witch nodded as she propped herself busy with boxes of robes. "I remember when I was your age..."

"Oh no, lady," Rose shook her head defensively. "He wasn't—we're not together! We didn't do anything _in_ there...he—h..." The saleswitch only smiled. "He is not my boyfriend. I don't like him, as a matter of fact, alright?"

But she knew that the last sentence she just said was a lie. Rose grabbed a couple more dresses and scurried to the fitting room. Then she poked her head out and said, "_Please_ don't tell my mother..."

The saleswitch gave her an amused grin and nodded.

"Al—alright, thank you," and she shut the curtains and remained there.

Astoria came back after a few minutes and they purchased three dresses, one of them was the silver. They headed outside and Astoria told Rose all about the plans for the centrepieces. Rose was barely listening; she was thinking about how Scorpius looked at her, how he lifted her face and told her she looked great. It felt weird, not bad-weird, just confusing-weird. Either he was being really nice or he was working his flirting charms on her. But he _did_ look sincere...

"Draco, what are you doing here?" Astoria's cheerful voice pulled her out of reverie. She looked up.

The suave tall figure of Draco Malfoy walked smoothly towards them, with a faint smile on his pointed face. He kissed Astoria on the cheek and then Rose on the head. Rose jerked away.

"What's wrong, Rosie?" he said in a gentle voice, which quite surprised her. Ron used to tell Rose that Draco Malfoy enjoyed sneering and drawling and sounding like 'a complete aristocratic spoiled bratty git that he is'.

"There was a mosquito," Rose lied.

"Oh," Draco knitted his eyebrows. "Alright."

"I thought there was a problem with the agency?" Astoria asked her husband as they continued walking down the Diagon Alley.

"Oh, it's done," he replied tiredly. Rose noticed there were circles on his droopy eyes. It was the first time Rose saw Draco Malfoy, the one who she always heard wrongly of. Last night, he went home so late that Rose was fast asleep when he came, and that morning, he went to the Quidditch agency so early that Rose hadn't had the chance to see him during breakfast.

"Darling, then why don't you go straight home and rest? Rose and I can finish shopping for the soirée," said Astoria.

"No, no. I want to spend this day with my two special ladies," he smiled.

Rose slowed down her steps so she could walk behind Astoria and Draco. She felt uncomfortable, with Draco being there. Rose felt that he was unwelcomed to her life. Spending time with Astoria was quite alright with her, but Draco was a different account. She grew up with stories of how the Malfoys contributed to the dark side. Even if Hermione told her that she shouldn't feel repulsed by them now because they have really changed, she still couldn't take away her judgements. First impressions last forever, after all.

And to make everything else more perfect as they were, Rose saw Hugo and Scorpius ahead. Scorpius' gaze turned to her and he smirked. He then saw Astoria and Draco, and then he grinned.

"Hullo Rose!" he waved energetically as Hugo stared at him with wide eyes as if his 'brother' was feeding himself to a family of lions who haven't eaten for a week.

Rose pursed her lips and looked away with her nose in the air. If there was any time for Scorpius to act foolishly in public, it shouldn't be when his parents, or in this case, _Rose's_ parents, were around. Didn't Scorpius miss his family badly? Why was he doing that, being all happy and friendly and ostentatious to Rose...in front of Draco and Astoria? The lunatic!

When they turned the bend, Rose sighed with relief, thinking that Draco did not just notice that a Weasley amiably addressed a Malfoy. Maybe if he knew that a son of a Muggleborn and a bloodtraitor was friendly with her, Draco would act scandalous.

"Rose," Draco turned around. "What was that?"

"Nothing," She looked at him innocently, but inside she was scared that he'd go on preaching about how people like the Weasleys are horrible and stuff like that.

But instead, Draco preached differently. He walked beside her. "Rose, that was Scorpius Weasley, right?" Rose shrugged. Draco continued, looking straight ahead, but dead serious. "I understand that you do not feel like being...approachable to their lot considering historical events and such, but I don't like you doing anything horrid to them or with them."

Rose shrugged.

"I have been receiving news for the past years of how much you get in fight with them, most especially Scorpius Weasley, and you know how much I've asked you to bend a little bit and give way. I know they might be unfriendly to you, but it doesn't help if you give them the satisfaction of a fight," Draco paused for a moment or two before he said, "But it seems that Scorpius grew a friendly attitude towards you, as what his manner earlier has displayed."

Rose was frowning, deep in thought. Draco Malfoy was actually convincing her to act nice to the Potter-Weasley clan. How weird could that get?

But Draco continued on, "Look, Rose, all your life I have taught you to be respectful and open-minded about the different aspects not only here in our world, but also in the Muggle world. I have made sure that I instructed you about morals and just sentiments. It is up to you if you choose to avoid the mistakes I made when I was your age, but please do. I've had horrible decisions back then, and I know how tired you must be from hearing that, but know that I only want you to grow up in the right way. You understand that?"

Draco's voice was pleading. Rose looked at him; his face was tired and sullen and full of regret. She understood but was not sure whether she wanted to admit it or not. Draco Malfoy was truly trying to redeem himself.

"I'm sorry," she said. "...father..."

He looked down on her with kind grey eyes, much like Scorpius' except Draco's were more communicative and without a hint of sarcasm. "That's the first time you apologized to me. Are you saying that you're finally going to listen to what I'm trying to say?"

"Yeah," she mumbled.

Rose felt bad for building up the idea that Scorpius' attitude was just like the young Draco's. Maybe Scorpius was really nice and she just didn't notice it...or accept it because she wallowed in her own prejudice.

.

Scorpius helped Hermione Weasley, his 'mum', to finish packing for the ski trip. He zipped the luggage and sat on the floor as Hermione returned with two packs of dried fruits in her hand. She stopped by the doorway and held them in front of her.

"Scorp, what do you like," she said. "Orange slices or pineapple cubes?"

Scorpius shrugged, "I don't know. I guess oranges would be nice."

"Alright," Hermione sat down on the bed. "I see you're finished."

"Uh-huh," he replied as he played with the bag's zipper.

"Scorpius, are you alright?" Hermione asked in the most motherly tone he ever heard. "You seem...distracted ever since you got home. Hugo told me you've been acting a lot strangely these past couple of days. I'm worried."

He slowly looked up into those kind brown eyes that Rose inherited. Scorpius tried to smile, "Don't worry, mother—I mean, mum. I'm fine."_ Nice slip-up, Scorpius. You don't call your parents mother and father, remember? _he thought.

"Okay, but I'd like to take a guess," Hermione said, not thinking about commenting when his 'son' called him mother. "Is it about a girl?"

Scorpius smirked his signature smirk. "No, why would a girl be a reason of my acting strangely?"

Hermione stroked her son's hair, "Don't you dare deny it. I saw a letter on your bed—"

"You didn't read it, did you?" Scorpius' eyes were wide. If Hermione Weasley happened to read Rose's letter, it would seem utterly bizarre that a Malfoy was being chatty about Weasleys. That and Rose pertained her supposedly mother, Astoria, as _'your mother'_ in the letter.

"No I didn't!" Hermione laughed. "It was a girl's penmanship. I didn't open it, I swear. I just read the address written outside."

Scorpius relaxed.

"And the letter was folded in a way that the signature of the sender was visible, so I know that the girl is Rose Malfoy," Hermione carefully added.

"Mum—!"

"I didn't read the letter," she quickly said. "Plus, Hugo saw you going in a boutique today when you two and Ron went to Diagon Alley—"

"It doesn't prove—"

"Rose was in the boutique, trying on clothes—"

Scorpius groaned, "What else did he see?" And he regretted asking the question for it would be apparent that he _is _guilty of Hugo's storytelling.

"Nothing. That's all he told me," Hermione sat on the floor beside Scorpius. "But, you know Scorp, you can tell me anything..."

"_Mum_..." he said in an I-won't-tell-you-anything-because-you're-a-parent tone.

"Oh don't be embarrassed!" Hermione breathed deeply. "Look, your dad might still feel a little...uncomfortable towards the Malfoys, and it is purely silly. But for me, if you like Rose, it's alright. She seems nice."

Scorpius looked at Rose's mother. Hermione was being sincere. He said nothing.

"If you like her, and are being bothered by the thought that she's someone your father might not approve—"

"Mum, I don't like her," Scorpius started. "Well, at least not in the way you're thinking." Hermione raised her eyebrows. "You think I fancy her, don't you? Well, truthfully, I don't. She's nice, yeah, nicer than an utterly deranged and raging Hungarian Horntail, but I don't look at her in _that_ way."

"Whatever you say Scorp," Hermione patted his shoulder with a smile. "I'll go and bake the fruitcake. You wanted oranges, right?"

She left him alone in the room, contemplating about the things he just said to her. And then he stood up and went to the kitchen. "I'd like to help you bake." Scorpius said to Hermione.

* * *

_This is longer than I wanted to. Which made me lazy (again) to proofread it. You are welcome to point out my stupid grammatical errors. Please do. _

_And please please please tell me what you think because I think that this chapter is verging on lameness, or as I like to put it into my term, forced coolness._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings. _


	9. Sugar, Spice and A Little Bit Nice

_Chapter 9_

* * *

_Rose,_

_Meet me at the duck pond on Sir Frederick Henders' Memorial Park at 2:30 pm later. Tell mother and father that you're only going to feed the ducks. Bring slices of bread. Come on time._

She placed a few slices of bread in a brown paper bag, grabbed her coat and headed out of the Malfoy's abode. Astoria didn't appear to be surprised that Rose was going out to "feed the ducks", but Rose, she was confused. It was winter. How on earth would ducks swim about in a freezing icy pond in the middle of December?

The park wasn't a long way off and she arrived on foot after a couple of minutes. She found the pond and was surprised that the water wasn't ice solid and there were ducks swimming. They all looked warm and lovely, while she felt cold and perplexed. She stood there, watching the ducks, wondering how they could appear to be all warm, then she heard footsteps coming up behind her.

She turned around and spoke, "How come there are ducks here? It's _freezing_."

"Henders, that man," Scorpius pointed at a monument ten feet away from them. "That man is a warlock from the fourteenth century. He saved Wiltshire. I don't know what from; I haven't checked out local history. But that bloke had a very uncanny obsession with ducks, so this pond was charmed to be a constant habitat for them as a tribute to him."

"Interesting," Rose mused. "How did you get here? My house or should I say, _your_ house is a couple of miles away."

"Knight Bus,"

"Oh, the driving is horrid." She breathed in distaste.

"Your attire all set for the party?" Scorpius asked nonchalantly as he sat on the bench beside the pond, remembering their little boutique adventure yesterday.

Rose's pale cheeks suddenly had a tinge of the slightest shade of pink and she looked away uncomfortably towards the splashing ducks. Scorpius can't help but smile as he looked at Rose from head to toe. She was clutching a paper bag, probably containing the bread. Her hair was in a French braid (again) and was tied with a black ribbon. Her black trench coat matched her ribbon, her grey pants and her black boots. Apparently, being a Malfoy made her look well put-together. She looked as aristocratic as he was when he was a Malfoy. Now, Scorpius was wearing dark blue jeans, a blue sweater, a chullo on his head and an old coat. _Trés Weasley-chic_.

"Look, I'm leaving tomorrow—"

"Tomorrow?" Rose echoed frantically. "That's so soon! We always leave after Christmas!"

"Well, it was decided by your parents. I think the ministry needs them right after Christmas. Hugo, didn't agree, but he was outnumbered. I guess he was counting on me to reason out why we should go after Christmas."

Rose sighed sadly and sat beside Scorpius, her eyes returned to the ducks. "Look, here," Scorpius jerked as he remembered. He fished something out of his coat pocket. "I brought you these. Thought you might want to try it."

Rose curiously took the thing wrapped in tin foil. She opened it and smiled so bright. It was a piece of fruitcake. "Mum made this?" she asked enthusiastically.

"Yeah,"

She instantly took a huge bite from the cake. Her eyes fluttered as she leaned back, "Oh, this never tasted so good like this—" she sat up and sniffed the cake. "Literally. What happened? It's moist and soft and chewey...before, it was rock hard and salty..." She looked at Scorpius.

He shrugged and smirked, "Maybe your mother needed a little bit of help,"

"Rose took another bite, "You...you helped her?"

"Why do you sound like it's an impossible thing?"

"Not impossible," Rose mumbled. "Just unusual."

"Is it good?" Scorpius leaned curiously as Rose chewed.

"Haven't you tasted it yet?" Rose asked.

"That's the last one. Hugo and your dad are a little too much impressed that they basically inhaled the cake. What you're eating was supposed to be my share."

"Oh," Rose stopped chewing and guiltily looked at what's left of the cake. It was as good as one bite. "Here, take it."

"I gave it to y—" but Rose shoved the cake at his mouth. "You idiot! That hurt!"

Rose clapped the crumbs off of her hands, "I was trying to be nice to you. You're welcome."

"It _is_ good," Scorpius said in a low voice. He stood up and grabbed the paper bag from Rose's lap. "Come on, time to feed the ducks."

"Oh, you were serious?"

"Of course I am. There are the ducks, here are the breads and we are the feeders. So come on," he jerked his head towards the pond.

It would've been pretty romantic; it was cold, duck-feeding was a very relaxing activity and there was only the two of them. But it wasn't romantic because it _was_ the two of them. Or maybe Rose just thinks it wasn't romantic. She was looking at him, his eyes sparkling as the quacking inhabitants of the enchanted pond swarmed towards the pieces of bread he was scattering. Rose remembered: during the first year, Scorpius was utterly nice to her. And she felt bad, because she didn't reciprocate his niceness. After first year, their war kicked off.

And now, maybe this enchantment...this curse, was slowly becoming to a good use. It was as if some kind of awkward friendship was starting to build between them. Awkward, yes, but still, it was a friendship. Finally, a relationship other than opposition and rivalry was developing.

"Stare all you want, but I'm not going to blush," he said quietly. And then he looked at Rose. "Unlike how you've been blushing every time I look at you."

There was his trademark smirk again. Rose narrowed her eyes and lifted the earflaps of his chullo. His ears were scarlet. "Your ears tell otherwise."

Scorpius tugged on his chullo, "It's _cold_. Temperature affects blood flow."

"Oh _yeah_," Rose replied sardonically and grabbed the paper bag from Scorpius.

"So, why did you want to meet me here?" she asked after a while.

"I was bored," he said flatly as he threw more pieces of bread down the pond.

"Listen," Rose fidgeted with a slice of bread. "I _am_ sorry."

Scorpius looked at her. "For what?"

"Oh don't ask me, please!" She chucked the rest of the bread slices and the paper bag to the over-zealous ducks. She walked briskly to the bench and slumped.

Scorpius, confused and all, followed her and took a seat beside her. "Mind if you tell me what's going on?"

Rose didn't answer.

"Is it about our situation?"

Rose shrugged after a few seconds.

"It's done. It's not okay, but it's done. We'll get out of this somehow. We'll break the spell," he reassured.

Rose shook her head.

"What are you thinking?"

Actually, Rose was trying to say sorry for thinking that Scorpius was just like his father when he was young. As she sat there in the cold, Rose thought that it was a miracle that the three words 'I am sorry' even escaped through her lips. And they were intended for Scorpius! But she couldn't say any more than that. She couldn't admit to him that she was wrong. She just couldn't, so she gruffly answered,

"Some other time."

Scorpius laughed, "Is today supposed to be the time of your month?"

Rose huffed and crossed her arms across her chest. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Alright, since you'll probably go into one of your psychopathic screaming rage fest if I pry on you any longer, I should leave now," he stood up and placed his hands in his pockets. "As I said earlier, your family and I will be leaving tomorrow, and we'll be back at Christmas Eve, probably at noontime. Your dad doesn't want us getting distracted during the trip so he had forbidden us to send letters or whatever, except for family—"

"Oh, that is so like dad," Rose side-commented.

"But I'll try to owl you, if you need any help," he said gently. Rose stared at his trainers, but he could see a small smile was tugging at the corner of her lips. "If you need someone to talk to, you know. I know it gets pretty lonely out there. You feel so alienated, stuff like that. I mean, in our case, all we can understand now is each other, right?"

Rose looked at him and smiled so warmly that it could've melted the snow around them, and him. "Thanks,"

Scorpius shifted uncomfortably and pretended to be interested with the ducks; one of them was idiotically trying to swallow the paper bag. "Well, that's great; I've turned into a pansy. I'll be off then."

He curtly nodded to Rose and walked away. He took a back-glance at her; she was watching him go away. "Good luck at the party," he called out. "Don't murder anyone."

.

Rose didn't know what kind of scheme Scorpius was planning once he got home from their little time at the pond. After all, he wasn't a Slytherin for nothing. He really _did_ miss his home and his family; he wasn't a heartless ungrateful child, in spite of everything. He felt bad for missing out the Malfoy Yule Soirée, as he know that this year's party was going to be special, because his parents have invited legendary Quidditch players, courtesy of the Quidditch Agency that Draco part-owns. But other than that, he wanted to see someone. He wanted to see how Rose was doing as a Malfoy, simple and ridiculous as that.

So the day of the Weasleys' departure arrived. Scorpius decided what he wanted to do. Tomorrow would be the soirée, and his plan was completely formulated in his mind. He didn't really feel unpleasant with the Weasleys' presence. He wasn't exactly best friends with Hugo before (they were on good terms, though), but being his 'brother' made him a great deal closer to him. As one of his many strange philosophies, Scorpius has always respected Hermione Granger. She was intelligent and beautiful. He actually felt bad that Draco used to bully her, but that was the past. Hermione is a sweet and caring woman and Rose is lucky to have her. She is just like Astoria, except Hermione is more sensible, he has to admit.

Having Ron as a father was unexpected. Well, everything that is happening to them right now is unexpected, but Ron was the most unexpected thing that ever happened to him. Scorpius knew how much of an influence Ron Weasley is to Rose. If there was anyone more prejudiced than Rose was, it was, of course, Ron. But Scorpius got to knew him, even for a little amount of time. He was just like his father. Over-protective at times. Lame at most moments (Draco doesn't just always shows it of course). And a dad, always.

Rose apologized to him yesterday, although her reasons were concealed. Scorpius thought of saying sorry too, but, alas, pride took over him. Oh well.

Much as he wants to try out how to ski (really, Muggles...) he wanted to be in that soirée. So let's get back to Scorpius' scheme.

"Scorp, where are your things?" Hermione frantically asked his son. "We're leaving in a few minutes. Where're your things?"

"I unpacked them," he shrugged. "I—I'm not joining you, mum."

"What? Why?" Hermione crossed her arms and stood firmly before her son.

"I just...it's complicated."

"I understand complications. Spit it out."

Scorpius gave her an uncomfortable look that seems to say 'Please, don't make me tell you'. Hermione sighed and called Ron. _Great, here comes drama_, thought Scorpius.

Ron spluttered and got all ruddy after hearing Scorpius' last minute decision, but it was apparent that he was not angry, just really worried.

"What will you do while we're gone?" Ron asked as he was trying to find reason with his son.

"I've got a lot on my mind," Scorpius said reluctantly. "I just need time alone. You know, actually rest. I'm not up for anything adventurous right now."

"_Not up for anything adventurous right now_," Ron muttered.

"I'm not going to throw wild parties while you're away," Scorpius said crossly. "If that's what you're thinking. I just want to stay here—"

"This is not some kind of teen rebellion, is it?" Hermione spoke.

"_No_!" he answered. "Trust me, will you?"

"Aren't you feeling well?" Ron asked as he felt Scorpius' forehead for his temperature.

Scorpius chuckled and pushed Ron's hand, "No, come on. I'm fine. I'm just in one of my moods, that's all."

Ron and Hermione know how Scorpius could get stubborn, as he got it from both of them they believed, so after some thinking, they allowed him not to join their family trip. Hugo didn't care at all. "As long as there are girls there, I'm up for it," he proclaimed. Hermione shot him a glare.

And Scorpius was left alone. He looked at himself in the mirror that night of the party, not too formal but casually cool and classic.

_Prepare for a gatecrash, Malfoy soiree, _Scorpius thought excitedly.

.

"You look stunning, gumdrop!" Astoria exclaimed as Rose stood on a platform in front of a three panel mirror. "I just knew that the green dress fits you perfectly!"

Rose clutched her skirt insecurely. She remembered how Scorpius—_Don't even go there!_ she thought to herself. She pulled the dress' sleeves and neckline up and smoothed the waistline. Rose turned around to face Astoria, who was looking very elegant with her midnight blue velvet dress.

"I don't look like—like...erm..."

"Rose, you look wonderful!" Draco entered the room, his black dress robes were in contrast with his pale blond hair. "The ballroom is done being decorated and the visitors will arrive in about ten minutes or so. I must say, everything is looking perfect."

"Marvelous," Astoria said with a flourish of her hand. "When you're ready, Rosie-pie, you can come downstairs to greet the guests. Come, Draco." She looped her arm around his and they exited Rose's room.

Rose sat on the platform and sighed. This was all too..._foreign_ for her. Probably the only one to make everything feel familiar again was Scorpius. Even her family couldn't do that, as they wouldn't remember her as their Rosie, but as a Malfoy. She wondered how he was doing in the ski trip. It was ten minutes to six so that must mean they're already at where they ought to be.

After checking herself in the mirror for the last time, she went down the long stairs of the Malfoy Manor and arrived at the hugest room of the house. Tables of food and beverages were lined at the sides, a platform was at one end of the room with a band of elegant music playing and people were slowly coming in.

Suddenly, she felt more alone than ever. Even in a crowd.

.

It was Scorpius' second time to ride the Knight Bus. Mike Bennster, the new conductor of the bus, looked at him suspiciously. Scorpius got the feeling that the wizard was wondering why he was going any near to the Malfoys. Of course the he recognized the red hair and freckles of a Weasley, but to Scorpius' delight, he didn't comment or anything.

Sorpius dropped off a few blocks away from the Malfoy Manor; he didn't want to attract any kind of attention from the soirée guests. It was reckless for a Weasley to gatecrash a high-class evening party being held by the Malfoys. But hey, just because the society thinks it's out of the norm, doesn't mean you have to conform.

There was a guard outside the gate, checking invitations, but since he grew up in the manor, Scorpius knew quite a few secrets about it. The tall and thick hedgerow growing on both sides of the path to the manor had this small concealed hole that led inside to the Malfoy's vast frontyard. It was as simple as that, and Scorpius managed to do it easily. He made his way towards the garden and into the west side of the mansion, where the ballroom was located. Its huge back doors were opened, revealing laughing, dancing and talking guests with glasses of drinks on their hands. He slowly walked in with a little fear that someone would recognize that he was not invited.

Scorpius hid behind one of the pillars of the room and silently looked for Rose. Amidst the sea of people before him, you'd think he would find it hard to see Rose. But it was pretty easy. All he had to do was to spot a mane of platinum blond. No one ever possessed the Malfoys's trademark heavenly halo of hair, along of course with their smirk, drawl and sneer.

And there she was, animatedly conversing to an odd-looking wizard wearing neon green robes and a tall and pointy hat with red and white stripes. He recognized the man; it was Gilden Femmerwire, a Quidditch historian who is more famous from his odd choices of clothing than his works as a historian. But Scorpius didn't stare at the peculiar wizard, but at Rose.

He said at the fitting room that day in the Diagon Alley, that Rose looked great in the green dress. Scorpius was aware that he made a poor choosing of words. He meant that she looked _beautiful_. He found himself coming closer to her as the music starts, but a big fat man with a cello barred his way.

"Lad, could you please hand me my bow?" the beefy man said politely. "I dropped it...there on your foot."

Scorpius looked down and handed the musician his bow. The man grinned at him and thanked him. Scorpius smiled back and noticed his hat. "Mind if I borrow this?" he got the fedora hat off of the man's head and put it on. "Your hair looks ravishing." He commented.

The man chuckled and shrugged. "It looks better on you anyway." And he left.

His main reason was to conceal his blazing red hair. If a certain redhead danced with Miss Rose Malfoy, heiress of Draco and Astoria Malfoy, people would surely notice. The last thing he wanted is to be given unwanted attention from everybody.

He cleared his throat behind Rose. She spun around and he swore he heard her heart bang against her ribcage.

Rose spluttered then turned to Gildern Femmerwire and excused herself. She grabbed the sleeve of Scorpius' black jacket and brought him behind a pillar. "What are you doing here?" she asked in panic, although it was obvious that she was relieved. "What if someone saw you here? You're supposed to be gone to your family trip."

Her voice cracked at the last two words. Scorpius shrugged, "Not my thing."

"Oh yeah, because nothing seems more exciting than gate-crashing," she crossed her arms. Rose eyed his attire; he was wearing this ridiculous fedora, dark denim pants, a black hoodie and a grey striped neck tie and a white collared shirt. "What the hell are you wearing? You look like a Justin Timberlake wanna-be." Although she knew Scorpius looked better than him. Rose cleared her throat awkwardly after the thought.

"Who's Justin Timberlake?" he leaned against the wall.

Rose flicked her wrist impatiently, "Some American muggle entertainer Lily likes; he's old...Anyway, why are you here?"

"Just thought I'd see you," he smirked. Then he straightened up and held her hand. "I'll have this dance whether you like it or not." He led her to the dance floor. Scorpius guided one of Rose's hand to his shoulder, while the other, he raised with his on a comfortable level. His other hand gently held the small of her back, and a flustered Rose bit her lip and looked down at their feet. "But with my amazing dancing expertise, you would most likely...like it."

Rose looked up and rolled her eyes. "You are full of ego."

"It's a talent only I can perfect,"

Rose smiled.

"Why, Rose, it seems I am making you smile!" He feigned surprise.

"Shut up," Rose scoffed.

He grinned and twirled her. When he caught her in perfect timing with the beat of the music, he said, "Well, you _are_ becoming nice to me," Scorpius winked.

"You're right about what you said you know; we can only understand each other now," she said soberly. "I mean, I've actually never thought I'd like your mother!"

"Ah, the old brutal nagger! _Adore me or die_, I've always believed that was her motto in life," he sighed. "Seriously, though, you like her?" Rose nodded. "Well, I like your mother too, but she couldn't bake to save her life."

Rose snorted, and then fell grim. "I do miss them...a lot." She looked into his eyes. "Don't you miss your family?"

Scorpius looked away.

"That was a stupid question," Rose said quickly. "Of course you do. That would be the only reason why you came here, right? Sorry."

"Yeah, I do miss them," he said. "But it actually feels good to be out of their reach for once." He returned his eyes to hers. Rose's face expressed her question. Scorpius, thus, continued, "All my life, they've been keeping me in monitor, like they're afraid I'd do something bad to soil our already soiled name. It's nice to experience a different kind of life, you know. Although..."

"Yes?"

"Although, I realize your life is hard too,"

Rose smiled faintly, "In what sense, may I ask?"

"It's like everyone expects me to be good all the time," Scorpius said softly to her. Then he laughed boisterously.

"What now, bonkers?" Rose whispered to him, as she felt eyes upon them.

"I just realized," Scorpius said with a grin. "Everyone expects a Malfoy to be bad, and a Weasley to be good. I guess, in terms of concept, we are relatable to each other."

"I guess..."

Scorpius looked at her pensively. "You know, we could've been friends all this time."

Rose rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "That, I believe, is impossible."

He laughed merrily, and Rose couldn't help but do too. "Yeah, I thought so too, but look at us now; we're friends, are we not?"

"No we're not," Rose said all-knowingly, still smiling.

Scorpius grinned at her, "Of course we are! Aren't we relying on each other now? Don't we trust each other? Don't deny it, woman."

"I still say no," she said daringly. "We argue too much often. Like, for instance, now. And besides, we're too different."

"But we're too much the same too,"

Rose quirked an eyebrow, "Same? Us? Look here, I'm in Gryffindor and you're in Slytherin."

"We're both brilliant and clever students," Scorpius wittily countered.

"You play Quidditch, I play wizard chess," she said.

"Our brilliance is not just good for academics," he said. "And...we're both stubborn."

"Your evidences of our similarities do not prove how we can get along with each other," Rose said haughtily.

Scorpius tightened his hold on her and drew her closer to him. He whispered to her, "You know it yourself, Rose. We are different but we're also the same." He drew back and examined her face. "But our differences and similarities wouldn't matter if someone just knew how to trust."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose replied firmly after a moment, but despite her firmness, a smile tugging on the corner of her lips.

"You are as obstinate as when I first shared a conversation with you," Scorpius remarked with a grin.

"I'm not obstinate; I just have a really strong mindset."

"That can be defined as obstinacy," he muttered. "Or worse, prejudice."

"Can we please stop this?" Rose asked. "I'm actually having a nice time and you're spoiling it."

Scorpius swayed her playfully before giving her another twirl. "You're having a nice time?" he asked in disbelief. "Well, since I don't want to spoil this night, I'm going with your insights, just for this one time," he resolved.

Rose smirked.

"You do know you're smirking, right?" Scorpius asked.

* * *

_Ha-HA! The Henders bloke who loved ducks is semi-fashioned from Jimmy Neurton's dad. And Gilden Femmerwire is semi-fashioned from Xenpphilius Lovegood. Actually, Gilden Femmerwire was originally a contributor and a 'fan boy' of The Quibbler, but I realized that someone like that seemed out-of-place in a Malfoy soirée. Whatever. And, yes, I decided to make Scorpius nice (because I imagined him to be really nice in the first place, it's just that Rose was being careful; she's having trust issues due to Ron's influence. But I think you caught that idea already)._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	10. A Rose in Need Helped by Scorpius

_Chapter 10_

* * *

Scorpius had not seen Rose since they've finished dancing for two whole songs. So, he was stuck watching in the corner, keeping his borrowed fedora on, in case someone would recognize him. It wasn't until after almost two hours did he had enough of all this waiting. Yes, he _wanted_ to see Rose again.

But Rose was too much occupied with some matters. One of them is this damned crazy woman named Aunt Priscilla Greengrass (whose disagreeable personality exceeds that of the Weasleys' own Aunt Muriel). The other matter is a bottle of Firewhisky. Aunt Priscilla is a mad drinker of alcohol, and poor Rose, who was called to entertain her because the old hag missed her so much, was forced to drink with her. Rose politely said no, of course, but you don't know what kind of evil powers this Greengrass witch possesses.

And now Rose was at her fourth glass of Firewhisky.

And she's pretty much tipsy.

"More, dear?" Aunt Priscilla cooed, all ruddy in the face.

Rose groaned and closed her eyes as her surroundings started to distort. This was actually the first time she got wasted. Aunt Priscilla pushed the bottle of liquor to her hands, and Rose violently pushed it away. The bottle flung out of the old witch's hand and smashed on the floor, causing a few people gasp in surprise and turn to their direction. Rose stood up and staggered away, going to the nearest exit. She was stupid to allow that woman to boss her to drink, but she couldn't think straight right now and could not blame herself.

She reached the dimly lit corridor and slumped on the floor moaning, "I want to go home..." over and over again.

Draco saw his daughter head off from the ballroom with strange looks following her. He followed Rose outside, giving the few guests who noticed her drunken display with apologetic smiles while saying, "Carry on; I'll make sure Rose is fine."

He found Rose curled on the carpet, crying and saying that she wanted to go home. He came near to her and patted her shoulder. "Rose, come on, you're drunk—"

"I don't want this!" she whispered as if she was in pain.

"Rose, come on," Draco said as he tried o hoist her up.

Rose wriggled out of his hands and shrieked, "No! No! No! Get me home! Give me my hair back! And freckles!"

"What?" Draco, very much, stood up. He decided to call out Frompy. The house-elf arrived within moments. "Frompy, bring Rose to her room and don't let her do anything stupid."

"Yes, master," Frompy bowed down and touched Rose's shoulder and they Apparated to her bed.

After experiencing the sucking sensation from the Apparition, Rose bolted upright and vomited on the floor. Frompy looked at Rose pitifully and sniffed, "Poor miss is having a rough night. I is take care of you, Frompy promise!"

The elf waved her hand over the pool of sick and it disappeared, but the smell did not. "Miss Rose needs a bath," she informed to the still-crying silently Rose.

"I just want to go home!" she cried. "This world is cruel! I want my life back! I want Scorpius to be here!"

"Miss, who is Scorpius?" the elf asked innocently.

Rose smiled and stood up. She jumped down from her bed and twirled clumsily around, "He's my friend! We're friends...lovely friends..." She continued to prance around until she collapsed on her bed. "I want him here...here...here now..."

"Should Frompy go look for him and bring him here?"

"Yes, cuddlecakes, bring my lovely person to me..." Rose sighed dreamily.

Frompy Disapparated, leaving Rose alone. She stood up once again and tottered her way to her ensuite bathroom. She looked at herself on the mirror over the sink and touched her face, "I look lovely..." Then, not a moment too soon, she scurried over to the toilet bowl and poured her feelings and dinner out, sobbing in-between, "I need to go home...I want to...let me go home..."

It was rather a pathetic sight, if the people who saw her were her 'friends' from Slytherin, but Scorpius arrived, after going with the loyal and concerned Frompy in a side-along Apparition. He saw Rose having her moment with the toilet, and there was this tender look on his face that Rose should have seen. He hurried to her and held her hair away from her face.

"What the hell have you been up to now, Weasley?" he said in forced calmness as he rubbed her back.

Rose threw up one last time and snivelled, "Rose..."

Scorpius bit his lip, "Okay... Rose."

"You're here," she smiled goofily and bowed down on the toilet seat. "Go away...I'm horrid..."

"Miss needs a bath," Frompy announced.

Scorpius eyed the elf dumbly; Frompy was as loyal and caring as ever but, "Are you expecting me to give her a bath?"

Frompy shook her head with wide eyes as Rose snapped her head up. "No, no! Frompy mean that miss takes a bath alone..."

"You're going to leave me?" Rose whimpered to Scorpius.

He shuddered a little; Rose was definitely wasted. "I won't," he said. "I'll wait outside."

She nodded like a child and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Scorpius helped her on her feet and flushed the toilet. Rose started to unzip her dress and get her arms off the dress' sleeves.

"Whoa! Wait 'til I'm gone, you lunatic!" Scorpius rushed out of the loo, locking the door behind him. He sat on Rose's bed while looking at Frompy awkwardly as she guarded the door.

"You not getting in while miss takes bath," she said with her nose in the air. Scorpius chuckled and raised his hands up in surrender.

After a few minutes of waiting, Rose got out from the bathroom wearing only a bathrobe. She sat on the edge of the bed and curled herself into a foetal position. Scorpius sat up and looked at her.

"What?"

"I want to go home," she moaned.

"You're not sober yet, are you?" Scorpius asked, not waiting for an answer.

Rose looked up with tears in her eyes. She sniffed and tugged on the belt of her robe and Scorpius found the time to blush. "You need to put on some clothes," he said.

"I'm wearing clothes," she said in a depressing tone.

"Miss is not wears any clothes," Frompy said. She took Rose's wrist and led her to the bathroom. "I get your clothes, miss, and you dress. If miss' father and mother founds out you is wears only robe with red boy here, they be angry."

Rose went in and Frompy fetched her pyjamas from her wardrobe. She dressed herself and came out again. Scorpius was relieved. Then Rose burst into tears and flung herself to Scorpius.

"Merlin, Rose! You're even scarier when you're drunk!"

"I want to be home," she cried.

"This is your home for the time being," he tried to be comforting.

Rose thumped him on the back angrily, "No! This is not home. All there is here are blondes and fanciness!"

"That's lovely," he muttered.

Then someone knocked on the door. "Rose, honeycup, are you alright? I was getting worried."

Scorpius looked at the door with big frightened eyes, then he shook Rose. "You have to talk to your mother; tell her to go away," he whispered frantically.

Rose pouted, "She's not my mum!"

"Rosie-cheeks?" Astoria called. "May I come in?"

"Rose, yell no," Scorpius stood up, with Rose clinging to him. "Now."

She grumbled and then called out, "No!"

"Rosie...is everything fine? Has something upset you? I'm sorry Aunt Priscilla was like that. I think I should come in."

Scorpius dragged Rose towards the door and whispered to her face, "You want to go home?"

Rose nodded solemnly, closed her eyes and lurched.

"I'll take you home, alright, but you have to tell my mother not to bother you, talk to you or whatever for the rest of the night." he said.

She conceded and opened the door slightly so that she can peek through.

"Mother, I can't talk right now," she said as soberly as she can. "I think I need to rest—"

"Okay, darling. I can see you're drunk," Astoria said lovingly. "But do you need me to—"

"No, I'll be fine. I have Frompy. Go back to your quests. Erm, don't bother me tonight, 'kay? Don't talk to me or check me tonight," Rose said. Scorpius rolled his eyes; Rose was not good at this. "Don't worry. I'll sleep it off..."

Scorpius pulled Rose and shut the door immediately.

"Alright, sweat-pea," he heard Astoria say behind the door, which was followed with departing footsteps.

Rose staggered dangerously and Scorpius caught her, "I reckon it's your first time to get wasted."

"Home," she moaned helplessly.

"Alright, alright," he helped her to her bed and turned to Frompy.

"I'm leaving and she's coming with me," he said firmly, thinking that the hard tone of his voice would convince the very loyal elf because he knows how Frompy could be overprotective of her masters.

But Frompy gasped and jumped in front of the intoxicated blonde, "You not take miss away! I...I'll tell master and mistress—"

"No..." Rose groaned and she sat up. "Fr—Frompy...I need to go with him or else I'll die!"

_Rose, forever the dramatic_, Scorpius thought. _Drunk or sober._

The house-elf meekly bowed her head and nodded. Rose continued. "You have to Apparate us there, Frompy," she forced herself to speak through the dizziness. "Oh my head..."

She lied back down again with her hand on her forehead. Scorpius cleared his throat and leaned towards her to help her up, "Come on, then. We'll...we'll get you home." He heaved her up and supported her upright by her waist.

Scorpius thought that Rose at least deserves to be at her own real home. He nodded at Frompy after giving her the Weasleys' address, and the elf reluctantly tugged on his pants. They Disapparated. The three were sucked in and within a moment, they found themselves in front of the Weasleys' house. Rose retched and pushed Scorpius away. She dropped to the ground and crawled on the sidewalk and threw up.

"Rose..." Scorpius groaned. He crouched beside her and saw tears in her eyes. He never saw her more dismal and helpless like this before. "You're home now, alright?"

Rose wiped her mouth and looked up to where Frompy was. She said in a hoarse voice, "Listen to Scorpius and obey him."

"Don't tell mother—her mother and father about this. Give me your word that when they find out she's gone and ask where she is, you tell them that you don't know but she issafe. She'll be back, though. You won't tell them of her whereabouts, not even a hint."

Frompy nodded solemnly.

"And she need some clothes, too. But don't let anyone see you bring them here. Alright?" The house-elf nodded again. "Don't tell them anything about me, either."

Frompy looked at the redheaded boy with disgust, but said "Yes, sir," all the same. He dismissed her and when the elf Disapparated, Scorpius helped her up for the nth time that night. He half-dragged half-carried her all the way to the living room sofa, where she moaned and groaned with grief as she lied down.

Scorpius went to the kitchen sink to wash his hands, which were smeared with Rose's puke, and when he returned Rose was not in the living room. "Rose?" he called as he checked around. Nowhere. He ran upstairs and stopped when he passed by his bedroom; Rose was lying face down on his bed.

"Not there!" he whined as he entered the room. "You're getting upchucks on my sheets!"

Rose sniffed. Scorpius scoffed and went away.

Next morning, Scorpius woke up (he slept on Hugo's room) and the first thought that entered his mind was Rose. He went across the hall and found that the door was locked. He knocked. "Rose, are you awake?" No answer came.

He decided to continue being an angel and went downstairs to rummage the kitchen cabinets for a hangover concoction or something. He found a cabinet which he reckoned to be the medicine cabinet containing bottles of thick liquid, some were labelled, others weren't. Scorpius recognized the brown gooey potion in a clear bottle, unstoppered it and sniffed its content. Definitely the hangover cure. He took it loads of times before and resented its awful taste. Lucky for Rose, Scorpius is surprisingly skilled in the kitchen, being beverages one of his fortes. Scorpius prepared coffee and mixed three tablespoons of the hangover cure to Rose's cup of coffee. But it took hours for Rose to wake up.

Scorpius decided to call her down and then, as if on cue, Rose entered the kitchen slowly with a big frown that would've satisfied him if it were because of a failed Potions test. Her hair was its own jungle, her skin was pasty white, and her bloodshot eyes squinted against the morning light penetrating through the flowery curtains.

"I see you're having a fantastic morning," he smirked at her as she took a seat on the dining table.

"What time is it?" she grumbled.

"12:16 pm," he replied, checking his watch. "Not exactly morning, now." he muttered to himself.

"Oh Merlin, it feels like I've been hit by the Hogwarts Express," she complained. She rested her head on her folded arms on the table. "Your Aunt Priscilla is the most horrid person I have the displeasure and misfortune to meet."

"More horrid than I am?" Scorpius tried cheekily, stirring Rose's coffee, which he had been reheating every twenty minutes.

Rose looked up scowling, "She forced me to drink alcohol. She's an abusive manipulating monster. Of course, she's more horrid than you."

Scorpius grinned and placed the mug of coffee before her. "Here, drink that." Rose wrinkled her nose. He explained, "It's just coffee, Rose. Trust me."

She carefully drank it and smacked her lips. Scorpius sat down and waited for a comment. "I hate to admit this but it's probably the best coffee I've ever had."

"I knew you'd say that," he said smugly, taking a sip from his own cup.

Rose silently finished her coffee, trying to avoid Scorpius' eyes, which seemed to be boring holes on her face at that moment. She finally spoke up, "Did I do anything ridiculous last night?"

"Define ridiculous,"

Rose shrugged, and winced; her shoulders ache. "I don't know, something like...anything that made me a little less respectable in your eyes?"

"Oh, so you presume that you're respectable in my eyes?" he smirked.

"Of course," she answered with the utmost dignity. "How could I be not?"

He smiled slightly. "Don't worry; you didn't do anything unrespectable. Not that I know of, anyway."

She gave him a meaningful look.

"You're respectable to me," he said in a low and strange voice. "But last night, you bawled your eyes out and vomited like there was no tomorrow"

"Lovely," Rose breathed in self-pity.

After a moment's silence, "Feeling better?"

Rose suspiciously sniffed the empty cup in her warm hands. "Loads, actually. You did something to the coffee?"

Scorpius leaned back all-knowingly. "I have skills."

Her eyes scanned the kitchen counter and found a clear bottle with that unmistakeable brown liquid. "Hangover cure."

"How did you know it was a hangover cure?" he quirked an eyebrow. "I reckon you've never had to take one before."

"James is my cousin," Rose reasoned enough.

Scorpius stood up and reached for Rose's mug. He placed their mugs on the kitchen sink. "You should take a bath. You reek with sick."

"I don't have clothes with me," she said timidly.

"There's a backpack in the living room with your stuff," he said. "Frompy brought it last night when you were asleep."

"Great," she headed out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Rose," he called. "You want me to cook you breakfast?"

She looked at him in disbelief, "You're being unusually nice to me."

He shrugged coolly, leaning on the counter. She smiled and then went away.

"So you want breakfast then?"

"No appetite," was Rose's answer.

Rose went back to sleep after her bath (in Scorpius' bedroom, which used to be hers when she lived there). Before she was able to drift away in slumber, however, her thoughts were much boggled by Scorpius' recent acts of kindness. Scorpius, meanwhile, stayed in the living room, doing nothing but thinking. Thinking about how much things have changed over time. And that thinking led to sleep.

And so the two of them, after a couple of years of dispute, felt peaceful for the first time. After everything, they could only trust each other.

Rose woke up at 6:30 in the evening, with the last rays of the sun reaching through the window like fingers. She went downstairs, feeling all set and energized for no good reason, and expected Scorpius to be in the living room. However, he was not, and so she roamed about the house and found him nowhere to. She sat on the sofa and waited patiently, until Scorpius came in with snow in his ginger hair.

"Where've you been?" she asked.

Scorpius sat down next to her, giving her a newspaper. Printed on the front page was a photo of a young handsome gentleman cutting a ribbon of a club. The club was called _Charming Cheats and Debonair_. Rose heard about it from and she knew that the club was a notorious den for young witches and wizards who want to party and hook-up and do all the sorts. It was the type of place her dad would warn her not to go to.

"What do I do with this?" she asked Scorpius dumbly.

He snickered mischievously, "_We're_ going to find our true love."

Rose's eyes flew back to the paper and then to him, "You're kidding, right?"

"No," he simply said. "I guess maybe we should work on our quest for true love, don't you think?"

She gaped at him. "How much tackier can you get? You, of all people? I never expected that from you." She shook the paper and read on.

"What about me?"

Rose eyed him very similarly how Hermione eyes Ron when she finds his ideas ridiculous. "I mean, you're suggesting we find love, no, _true_ love in a place where grungy rowdy kids hook-up!"

"There are no grungy kids in there," he said. "Rowdy, yes, but not grungy. That club is classy."

"Yes, but all the same, hooking-up is not true love,"

Scorpius stood up and nudged her forearm, "Come on, there's no harm in trying. My parents actually fell in love in that club."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, it's disturbing, but it's their romance. And no, they did not hook-up. They just accidentally met there and talked and mother worked her charms and father asked if she'd like to go for a coffee some time and mother agreed and then they dated and after some years, I was created..." he rambled on.

Rose stared at him with knitted eyebrows. "I still think it's not a pleasant idea."

"Where's your fun?" he teased.

"I vomited some of it and a portion of it, I left with Aunt Priscilla," she muttered.

Scorpius grabbed her hand and pulled her up, "Just this one time. Come on—"

"I don't get your logic!"

"I don't get yours either," he retorted. "What have you got to lose?"

She scoffed at him, "Possibly my virginity!"

"Oh so you're still one?" he chuckled. Rose smacked him on the head. "Ow! You know, you're only meeting people, not actually get banged. And, promise, no one's going to rape you-"

"What if someone makes me drink something,"

"I believe you have the ability to say no," Scorpius chided. "But I don't blame you that you weren't able to say no to Aunt Priscilla; she's an old hag who always gets her way. And mother calls me spolied brat...really..."

Rose pondered over Scorpius' proposition for over five minutes, and in the end, much to Scorpius' and our delight, the blonde gave in, but still thinking it was not wise. "Fine, come on! Might as well get this over with as soon as possible." She started to head for the door but Scorpius stopped her with an arm. "What? I'm doing what you asked so-"

"First, we have to make sure you look shaggable," he informed her.

Rose pushed him away and wrapped her arms around her protectively, "I thought you said-"

"Old prude," he smirked. "I meant we should make you look good so blokes would actually be drawn in. Now come on, you're as pathetic as hell."

"I am not prude and pathetic!"

"Of course you are," Scorpius looked at her from head to foot. "Your walk is pathetic-" Rose opened her mouth to retort but Scorpius held up his hand. "You're always hunched and you frequently look down. Confdience is the key, Rose, remember that."

"Well, supposed I strutted like you," she suggested sarcastically. "Do you think I'd get the double of date count?"

"Yeah," he shrugged. "But not as much I as I have. Come on then, walk the walk. Walk with confidence oozing from your soul, but not over-do it. Guys don't like prissiness."

She rolled her eyes and walked sluggishly across the room. "There."

Scorpius shook his head and walked towards her. "Loosen up." He gripped her wrists and shook her arms. He dropped them and said, "Again."

Rose's eyes glinted with tomfoolery as she got an idea. "Alright. I'll _walk the walk_, as you say it."

She rotated her shoulders and stood straight, then leaned back in an awkward position for her and strutted.

"What the hell are you doing?" Scorpius said.

Rose smiled wickedly. "I'm walking," she turned around and repeated her walk while chanting with every step, "Strut. Strut. Strut. Swagger. Swagger. Swagger." She stopped in front of Scorpius with an evil grin, then continued to walk again. She spun around and said, "Kiss my fat ass, bitches!"

"What are you doing?" He was obviously irated.

Rose straightened up innocently and said, "I was only trying to walk like you…"

Scorpius stared at her incredulously. "_Kiss my fat ass, bitches_," he echoed. "Really? And I don't walk like that, let alone _talk_ like that!"

"I'm just projecting what I observed," she stifled a chuckle.

"You demented person," he breathed. "You really haven't got a clue, do you? You think it's all just fun and games?"

"Well, yeah-"

He strode over to where she is, grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face the free space in the living room. He began, standing beside her, "Stand straight." She stood straight. "Eyes ahead." She stared ahead. "Chin up." He lifted her chin, and stared a long millisecond at her mouth. "Stomach in." She sucked in a breath. "Relax." She exhaled. "Shoulders back." He went behind her and gently pulled her shoulders back. "Chest out." Rose lost focus for a moment, and then did as what he told. "Backside out, too." Rose craned her neck to look at him in annoyance.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" she snarled.

Scorpius quirked his eyebrows and shrugged at what he thought was amusing, "Not as much as you are."

Rose rolled her eyes and Scorpius can't just resist to whisper in her ear, "Now try to walk."

"I can't," she said nervously.

Scorpius went in front of her, "Why not."

"I feel like one of those ducks in Hender's echanted pond," she replied.

He examined Rose and smirked, "Rose, that's the best posture I ever saw you have. Come on, just try it." He stepped aside and jerked his head, indicating that she should take her steps.

She did. And Scorpius never saw a lovelier sight. He smiled to himself; he's done a great job.

* * *

_Well, this took long to update. Sorry, but I can't help publishing other stories. Haha, and I can't stop watching Starkid Productions (I'm about to start on MAMD then ALWL as the last)._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings. My keyboard can't handle the blazing fervor of my fingers._


	11. Busted

_Chapter 11_

* * *

Rose and Scorpius rode the Knight Bus that night, going to the _Charming Cheats and Debonair _club. The bus conductor, Mike Bennster, eyed them suspiciously as the two of them sat in silence inside the bus. Scorpius stared back, his eyes screaming as loud as they can, "Mind your own business!" Rose meanwhile, chewed on her lip furiously while staring out of the window, clutching real hard at the edge of her seat as the bus zoomed here and there. Rose first thought of calling for Frompy to Apparate them to the club, but then the house-elf might get over-protective towards Rose and tell on Astoria and Draco, so they resorted to the bus.

They have finally arrived, just after a few minutes, on the doors of the prestigious club. Rose shuddered; she'd never thought of herself to be in this situation. Scorpius, to his mild surprise, actually felt a little nervous too. But one look at Rose, and he forgot it all. She just looked very pitiful. She was scared and pale and slightly shivering. But he knew they have to try this shot, if they want to return to their normal lives. Scorpius shook his head as he realized how ridiculous and immature his plan sounded.

"Well, go on, in you go," Scorpius jerked his head towards the doors, his hands in his pockets. Rose gaped at him and then looked at the bouncer with a scroll of parchment on his hand, probably the list of guests with reservations or something. She was glad that no with or wizard was outside with them at that moment except for the huge wizard with the list.

"Go on," Scorpius urged behind her.

"Bad idea," she mumbled. Then Rose turned around frantically. "Home now—"

Scorpius looped his arm around hers and spun her so that she faced the entrance of the club again. "What are you waiting for?"

Rose took in a shaky breathe and looked like she was panicking. She listened hard to the sounds coming from inside the club. "It looks dangerous!"

Scorpius tried hard not to laugh, but seeing Rose was serious, he said, "Nothing bad will happen."

"No! Dangerous—not going—I want—It's stup—dangerous—HOME NOW!" She spluttered. Scorpius bit back his laughter. "It looks dangerous!"

Scorpius sighed. "Let's put it this way, Weasley," it felt odd calling her by her last name again. "If you don't get your arse in there, _I'll _be dangerous."

Rose narrowed her eyes at him and said in a menacing voice, "I'd like to see you try."

He loved a good challenge, and he was up to it. Scorpius quirked one of his eyebrows suavely, said, "You asked for it," and then scooped her up, carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Rose was much too surprised to act violently, but when Scorpius walked towards the door, she squirmed and shrieked, "Put me down!"

"But you'll go inside, right?" he asked her, feeling the strange look that the huge wizard on the door was giving them.

"Yes, yes!" Rose hissed.

Scorpius dropped her on her feet immediately and received a death glare from her afterwards. Rose fixed her collared coat and spun around to head to the club's entrance with the utmost dignified look. But Scorpius stopped her again with his arm and pulled her to face him.

"What now?" Rose snapped.

He looked at her as he dug his hand in one of his pockets. Rose felt a little scared of the way he was staring at her; she involuntarily took a step back. Scorpius smiled. "This is for your own good, Rose."

She squeaked. He leaned in closer. "Pucker up, princess."

Rose was rooted on the ground as Scorpius smirked at her wickedly, his right hand taking her chin and lifting her face up so he could get a better look. Rose's hand flew up to his in alarm, and said "Not here!" But then Scorpius had this genuine expression of surprise that made both of them stop.

"Wh—what were you going to do?" Rose asked dumbly.

"What did you _think_ I was going to do?" he retorted mutually confused.

Rose shook her head slightly, her eyes wide with apprehension and embarrassment. Scorpius noticed a tinge of blush creeping slowly on her face, but didn't understand why. He placed his hand on her chin again and said impatiently, "Hold still."

"What do y—eaohw!" Scorpius quickly (and expertly in a curiousway) coloured her lips with a tube of lip gloss. He took a step back, probably for safety precautions, as an 'assaulted' Rose can be very dangerous, and sniggered. "What the bloody hell was that?"

Rose dabbed the corner of her mouth with her thumb and sniffed it. She threw Scorpius an angry look. "Where d'you get that?"

Scorpius threw the lip gloss in the air and caught it; he flashed a smile to Rose and replied, "I might've rummaged in your bag when Frompy dropped it off last night."

Rose's blush deepened. She wiped off the lip gloss and said, "Let's just get in before I change my mind."

"Don't you want your lip gloss?" he mocked.

They entered the club (Rose was surprised that the bouncer didn't even ask if they were of age) and the blare of the party music and glare of the club lights greeted the two of them. Rose was in a daze as she walked here and there, between people dancing and drinking, with Scorpius right behind her, maneuvering her direction by pushing her gently. They slipped in on an empty booth. Rose looked uncomfortable but when she noticed that Scorpius was staring at her, she composed herself and acted as relaxed as she can which didn't work.

A wizard emerged from the gaggle of club-goers not far from them and stood beside their booth. He carried a tray of drinks and food and smiled down on them. "Would you like—"

"Nothing alcoholic, please," Scorpius said seriously. The waiter looked taken aback, but smiled all the same. Scorpius glanced at Rose and winked at her. She felt like she wanted to shrink into her seat. The wizard gave them what looked like tonic water with lemon and ice in it. Scorpius looked unimpressed, however, Rose seemed relieved.

"I'm sorry; can you place a little bit of alcohol in this, please?" he said in distaste. The wizard poured a little bit of something in his glass and then waited to see if he wanted anything else. Scorpius indicated that they didn't need his services anymore and so the wizard went away.

Rose eyed Scorpius' drink distrustfully. He took a sip, and said, "It's not going to get me drunk. You want some?" He offered his glass. Rose cringed. "I see you're having a posttraumatic stress thing going on." He said.

Rose played with the ice in her drink with her finger and glanced around anxiously. Young witches and wizards (they, unlike the two of them, are overage of course) around them were drinking and singing and laughing and talking and dancing and some of them were even making out. Scorpius seemed to not have minded all the raucous at all, which got her asking, "Do you come here often?"

He snorted at her question. "That's the oldest line in the book, Rose. No one's going to ask you on a date if you ever say that to a guy."

"I—"

"You see that bloke over there?" he directed his gaze far off behind her. Rose made to look around but he abruptly said, "No! Don't look—"

"Well, how am I supposed to know—"

Scorpius surreptitiously looked at someone a good distance behind her again. "He's eyeing you."

"_He?" _she echoed in disbelief.

Rose noticed Scorpius tighten his lips. He then took a big gulp from his glass and set it down a little too hard. Rose flinched ostentatiously, making Scorpius look at her. She looked mortified.

He smirked mirthlessly, "You'll be fine. You're not getting raped here."

Her breathe hitched and she took a nervous swig from her drink. Scorpius continued watching the guy who was taking a great deal of interest in Rose. "Don't look at him," Rose told Scorpius in panic. "It's—"

"Now what's he doing?" Scorpius muttered . Rose watched his eyes travel with the subject of his gaze, who was apparently moving closer and closer until he was right behind Rose. She swallowed her own spit.

"Hey, there's something in your hair," a voice sounded behind her. Rose forced herself not to shiver as she felt someone's fingers dig through her curls to fish out something. "Just a twig."

Rose was still watching Scorpius. His face was as hard as stone, but distinctly unreadable. She carefully turned around and saw a wizard, about twenty-one or twenty-two, who smiled at her and held a twig between his forefinger and thumb. He flicked it behind him and smiled some more, then went away, getting lost in the sea of the intoxicated dancing crowd.

"That was..." Rose shook her head and bowed down. She heard Scorpius chortle. She looked up and he had this mocking face. "What?"

"He was into you, haven't you noticed?" Scorpius said monotonously, although he was slightly smirking.

"But...why?" she was befuddled.

Scorpius rlled his eyes and muttered something incoherent about being clueless. Rose felt her cheeks enflame once more and so she had to excuse herself to the loo. She stood up and went, dodging people's limbs and the mess they were making with their beverages. To Rose's immense relief, she found the loo unscathed. She went in the girls' room and splashed cold water in her face. She actually felt kind of irritated with Scorpius tonight. And also, frustrated with herself; why did she even signed up for this? She should've left before they went inside. No, she should've stayed at home.

Then BANG! Someone threw the door open, making Rose's heart speed up in paranoia, and when she saw who went in the girls' loo, she backed against the sink. The bloke who removed a twig from her hair smiled at her kindly, but there was a creepy sensation that told Rose that something about this guy was a red flag.

"Hi there," he said in a friendly way. He didn't sound drunk or anything.

"You shouldn't be here," she said, hiding her fear.

"Yeah well," he shrugged. "It was too noisy out there, wasn't it? I figured we would have a hard time introducing ourselves to each other."

Rose smiled, which looked like a grimace, and said, "I'm...not really looking for friends right now so..."

"I reckon he's not your boyfriend," the stranger said. "The ginger one, right?"

Rose thought for a second, whether she should lie or not, but the stranger caught her. "He's not," he concluded. Rose opened her mouth to say something.

"I just wanna be friends," he shrugged.

"You don't make friends inside the girls' loo,"

He smiled. In a creepy way.

Scorpius, meanwhile, was getting impatient. A few girls were eyeing him from a distance, but he ignored them. He started craning his neck to look around for her, but there were too many people. He stood up and went to look for the bathroom. He reached the bathroom, although, unlike Rose, he arrived scathed; a few girls tried to pull him in the dancing, but he resisted. Some ran their hands through his hair, tugged on his shirt, and one of them even tried to sneak her way into his pants. Scorpius was sweaty when he got in the loos. He stopped awkwardly in front of the girls' door and cleared his throat.

"Rose..." he called weakly. Then he spoke louder. "Rose? You're not hiding in there, are you?"

He listened hard, despite the roar of party music, and heard, "I don't want to make friends, okay? I need to go out—"

"Come on, just one drink and a dance—"

"Sorry, not being rude, but really. I'm tired and—get your hands off me!"

Scorpius punched the door open and bounded inside. Rose's eyes were wide when he suddenly came in. He pushed the guy away and pulled Rose beside him. The guy pulled out his wand and grinned at him.

"I don't like intervention," he murmured.

"Let's just leave," Rose hissed at Scorpius' ear.

The stranger angled his head so he could see her directly. "But we haven't had the chance to get to know each oth—"

"That's not in the agenda, sorry," Scorpius said venomously.

"Ah-ah...intervention. I told you I hate it," he raised his wand higher, levelling with Scorpius' face.

Rose noticed Scorpius put one of his hands in his pocket, and clenched his fist inside. She jerked on his sleeve and frantically whispered, "Don't get us in trouble, idiot! We're underage!"

"Hmm, underage, eh?" The guy smiled widely at her. "You sure don't look like one." He gave her a once-over and nodded in approval. He turned to Scorpius. "Maybe you should leave the playing to the big boys. I'll take care of her."

Scorpius clenched his teeth and pulled out his wand. His mind was racing with painful jinxes and hexes he wanted to throw at the wizard all at once.

"Now, now. We don't need trouble." The stranger grinned.

Scorpius placed his wand back inside his pocket and relaxed. He smirked, "You're right." He heard Rose's sigh of relief beside him. Then, before a second could pass, he lunged at the stranger and punched him on the face. The guy lurched backwards but caught himself before he fell down. He threw his wand aside and hit Scorpius on the left jaw. Rose shrieked. Scorpius spat blood and growled as he returned the punch. The guy fell down on the floor. He pulled Scorpius' ankle and they both flung their fists to get a hit on each other.

Rose wanted to pull Scorpius away from the fight, but she was so scared and was shaking so hard she could hardly move. A few witches went inside to use the room, but when they saw the brawl, they screeched and ran away. Moments later, a huge wizard with a shirt that said 'security', who the same built as the bouncer outside, walked in and broke off the fight. He pulled Scorpius off of the other wizard and tossed him aside. He staggered beside Rose, who held him steady, and then both of them ran away. Scorpius had his one arm around Rose and the other shoving people away as they hurried towards the nearest exist. The cool stinging air whipped their faces once they were out of the club. Rose clung on Scorpius as he stretched out his wand hand at arm's length. The Knight Bus appeared after a few seconds before them, and Mike Bennster held the door open.

"What happened to the two of you?" he asked.

"Mind your own shit," Scorpius muttered. He wiped blood off of the corner of his mouth and made Rose sit down.

Rose bit her lip as she looked at Scorpius surreptitiously. He seemed really angry.

"Does that hurt?" the conductor asked Scorpius conversationally, pointing at his mouth. He only glared at Mike. "Okay, okay. I'm minding my own shit."

BANG! They reached their destination just after a couple of stops. Scorpius let Rose get off first and then she hurried inside the house, going to the medicine cabinet and getting out an antiseptic potion and cotton balls. She was about to go downstairs to the lounge, where she expected Scorpius should be, but she found him in his room (or her room when she still was a Weasley). He was looking at his face in the mirror, probably checking if there was any serious damage done.

"Here," she pulled him gently and made him sit down on the bed. She sat down beside him and was about to dab his cuts with the potion and cotton balls when he hissed in painful anticipation. "I'm not doing it yet."

Scorpius nodded awkwardly and angled his face so she could start again. Rose gingerly patted his cut, with him wincing every now and then, and when she applied a little extra pressure on one spot, he yelped and cringed away.

"How come you're whining in pain _now_ that I'm actually curing it," she snapped. "But when you were punching each other's faces, it didn't seem to hurt?"

Scorpius scoffed, "I was busy then! I didn't mind the pain—"

"Just come'ere and get this done with!" Rose applied the potion on him again, but when he grumbled, she threw the cotton ball she was using on him and said, "Do it yourself then!"

She stood up and moodily went to examine the things in Scorpius' room. There were Quidditch magazines, posters and figures, textbooks, pictures of the Potters and the Weasleys and some stuff from the Weasley's and Zonko's jokeshop. Scorpius loomed behind her, observing her as she observed his possessions, and wondering what she was thinking.

"Still you," Rose said quietly, still looking at his things. "Isn't it?"

"Huh?"

She looked at him solemnly. "You're a Weasley, but you're still Scorpius."

He smirked, "So, you finally admit that you see me as more than just a Malfoy—"

"Let's not start a fight."

"We're not," he said matter-of-factly. "I swear, I don't want to."

Rose fell silent, but she continued looking at Scorpius. Then, after long seconds, "Thank you. But you shouldn't have punched him."

"I wanted to."

She looked away, suddenly finding interest on the mini replica of the latest Firebolt model. "It's not a matter of whether you want to or not. Sometimes, you have to think about if you should," she looked at him meaningfully. "If you _must_."

Scorpius slowly nodded. "Guess I have to remember that next time."

"But, really...thank you."

He followed her move, examining the things on his shelves and desk, just for the sake of doing something. He spoke, "It's my fault. You were right," he chuckled. "Looking for love in a damn club is silly. I guess I was just..."

"Go on," Rose encouraged.

"I don't know...maybe—getting desperate."

Scorpius slightly jumped when Rose laughed. "Getting desperate?" she echoed. "We haven't even been doing extreme things to get out of this predicament, and you're _getting desperate_?"

"Well, we're having a difficult time, right? Not nearly one month in this enchantment and we've landed ourselves in sticky situations."

Rose shrugged, "Yeah, difficult. Sticky situations. But, to be honest..." she looked slightly uncomfortable. "This kind of is fun. I mean, I do miss everything. A lot. But, this is fun. I never knew we could pull out a pretty decent conversation without injuring each other."

Scorpius snorted.

"Speaking of injuries," Rose placed back the Ancient Runes book on the shelf and turned to Scorpius to peer at the cut on the corner of his mouth. "Sorry to say this, but I'm glad you didn't do any wand work on that git."

"We would be getting in so much trouble..." Scorpius muttered.

"Mmhmm," she replied distractedly. She looked down glumly.

"The bloke in the club," he said conversationally. "Did he hurt you or...?"

Rose looked up quickly and said, "No! He didn't. He was just really...creepy. I mean, if I haven't resisted him in the first place, you know, if I didn't erm, played hard-to-get or whatever, he might've been not...creepy at all."

"He followed you in the girls' loo—"

"I guess he might've let me get out if I were equally friendly with him."

Scorpius frowned, "Are you defending him?"

Rose scoffed, "No! No way! I was just...maybe I was just...to blame...kind of—"

"The guy was a jerk—"

"He wouldn't have been if I was nice to him," she said firmly, then added darkly, "But, I wouldn't be nice to him if I were to go back in time."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. Then he jumped into a conclusion. "Right," he smiled humourlessly. "You have a boyfriend. You don't need that creep from the club, good-looking he may be."

Rose looked at him peevishly. "What—"

"Shawn?" Scorpius said. "Your boyfriend, remember?"

She paused for a moment and then, after remembering, "_Oh_, right..."

Scorpius threw her a confused look, which Rose seemed to read, so she added, "He's not _Rose's_ boyfriend. Not _mine_..."

She didn't know if she just imagined it, but Rose thought she saw Scorpius' expression relax, and possibly, look glad. She immediately deleted this image. She went to look at herself on the mirror and found her dishevelled and pale reflection. She frowned passionately at the blonde mess that was supposed to be her hair and then felt incomplete because of the absence of her Weasley freckles.

"If it helps," Scorpius said as he moved behind her, so that he was able to see his own reflection. He stared at Rose's image in the mirror. "You have never looked as gorgeous as you do now."

"I don't know whether to feel flattered or insulted—"

"I'm not starting a fight," he shrugged. They fell silent only for a few moments, until Rose smirked and turned her head to glance at him, and then back at their reflection.

"What?" Scorpius said.

"It's funny," she said quietly, a small smile on her face. "How come we still have our own eye colours? Yours is still gray, mine's still brown."

He leaned forward to get a better look. Indeed, they still have their original eye colours. "I don't know," he replied. "Maybe...you remember what Dornhill said in The Three Broomsticks? That all these things happening to us...the switching of lives stuff, he said it's all just fraud. Maybe our eye colours mean that we're still ourselves. I don't know..."

"Maybe," Rose nodded slowly and continued staring at her eyes, and Scorpius'...

"What if we never go back?" she asked weakly after a second, or a minute.

Scorpius held Rose's shoulder and turned her around so that she faced him. Rose raised her eyebrows.

"What if we're stuck like this?" she said.

Scorpius blew his hair out of his forehead and shot his eyes at the ceiling. "No we won't."

"You always act like you have the answer."

He smirked at her, "It's called optimism. Try it some time."

"What if this would take a very long time to solve?" Rose continued.

"I'd take that," he smiled genuinely. "Bring it on."

Rose scowled at him. "Stuck like this?"

Scorpius nodded. "You said it was fun."

"Yeah, if it were to be a short-term thing!" she grimaced. "But this looks like it will take us..." She shook her head and bowed down.

Scorpius tried to peak at her face, but she kept it so low that he couldn't. He was afraid that she would start crying, but to his relief, she wasn't. He reached for her shoulder and rubbed it sympathetically.

"Hey," he said. "It'll be alright. What, do you expect we'd be forever alone? Someone's bound to fall in love with the kind of girl such as yourself, don't worry."

Rose looked up and tried not to smile. She drew in a shaky breath. "Normally, I would've hexed you for saying that, but under these circumstances, I'm actually pleasantly surprised that I find that a bit comforting."

"Normally, I wouldn't have wanted to cause you comfort, so these circumstances that we speak of are probably very drastic, huh?" Scorpius moved closer.

"Does that hurt?" Rose asked him, pointing on the cut on the corner of his mouth. "And you have bruise on your temple, right there."

"Where?" He inched nearer.

"There," Rose pointed at his right temple. She brushed his red hair away from his forehead and examined his bruise concernedly. "Does it hurt?"

Scorpius stared at her eyes, but she was avoiding his eyes effectively. "Not really," he said quietly.

"It's really purple," she frowned. She hasn't removed her hand from his face, tilting it from this angle to that, although she was very aware that Scorpius' ears were turning slightly red, just like how she supposed her whole face was at that moment.

"Rose?"

She finally looked at him in the eyes. "Yeah?" she said lightly.

Scorpius opened his mouth to say something, but he was stuck at thinking of the right words to say. "Spit it out," Rose tried to sound impatient.

"Holy shit," someone whispered audibly from the door.

Scorpius and Rose turned their heads and saw a wide-eyed, flushed Hugo, his hair powdered with snow. His mouth hung open and he was staring at the two of them as if he caught them doing something illegal. He slowly took a step back, still looking incredulously at them, and then another, and then he broke off into a run downstairs.

"Tell me you just saw that too," Rose breathed, her hand frozen over Scorpius' cheek.

He looked at her, equally surprised, and then he rushed out of the room, following Hugo. Rose braced herself, but did not go downstairs. She can't bring herself to move.

"WHY?"

She winced when she heard Hugo's accusing voice.

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?"

Rose wrung her fingers nervously. If Hugo's already home, then surely, Ron and Hermione would be. But weren't they supposed to be home by tomorrow? She cautiously walked out of the room and leaned over the balustrade to hear what Hugo and Scorpius were saying.

"Mum and dad are just outside!" Hugo exclaimed. "What were you—Merlin, Scorp! What did you think you were doing? Why is Malfoy here?"

"Don't call her Malfoy!" Scorpius argued.

"Oh what now? I suppose I should call her Ickle Rosie-pie? That's hilarious, Scorp. Do you want me to be nice to that bint just because you decided while we're gone that you wanted to bang her—geroff me!"

Rose ducked and hurriedly crawled so that she could surreptitiously peek from the top of the stairs. Scorpius was gripping Hugo's collar menacingly.

"What the devil is going on here?"

Rose squeaked when Ron entered the house, followed closely by Hermione. They were carrying pieces of luggage they had for the trip. Ron dropped the bags in his hands and took on an authoritative air. Scorpius released Hugo and stepped back calmly.

"Hugo what's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"Ask him!" snarled the youngest Weasley, glaring at Scorpius. Hermione looked at him patiently while Ron frowned.

Scorpius glanced at Hugo, who was glaring at him, and took a deep breath, choosing the words carefully inside his head. Then his attention was brought to Hermione, who had this surprised expression, the direction of her gaze on the top of the stairs. Scorpius turned around and saw Rose coming down slowly, looking terrified.

"Wha—Scorp, you—why—wh...?" Ron spluttered.

"Meet Scorp's shagmate," Hugo said humourlessly. Hermione looked as though she was about to faint and Ron was so red in the face that Scorpius was surprised his head hadn't erupted yet with suppressed words.

.

Rose tried with all her might to hold back her tears. She has never seen her parents look so livid before, and it didn't help that Hugo kept shooting her disgusted looks. Scorpius explained as much as he could, because Ron kept on shouting at them, with flecks of spit hitting their faces. Rose shrunk in her seat on the sofa while Scorpius defended her against Ron's accusations.

"I've told you a dozen times already," Scorpius almost yelled exasperatedly. "We haven't done anything—"

"Yeah?" Ron said loudly. "A boy and a girl at the peak of their hormonal stage, all alone in the house at night. No adult supervision. Let me guess, you two were playing Exploding Snap? Or perhaps Gobstones?"

"I appreciate you sarcasm," Scorpius sneered. "But we don't need any."

Ron threw him the angriest look he could muster, and Rose, who saw it, felt worse than ever. Then Hermione sighed so heavily, looking at Scorpius problematically. Hugo scoffed, muttered something about 'shit', and stomped upstairs to his room, with Rose's eyes following him.

"Just tell us the truth," Hermione finally said. Her voice was cold and stern, but she did not shout.

Scorpius grumbled indignantly. "I am! We haven't done anything! We didn't—we didn't do whatever you think we did, I swear!" He glanced down at Rose helplessly, and found that her eyes were brimming with tears. She wasn't blinking, probably for fear that her tears might fall. She was staring transfixed at the carpet.

"Scor—"

"I told you," he replied tiredly and then quickly added. "Mum. I'm telling you the truth."

"Honestly," Ron muttered bitterly, walking around slowly with his back against them all. "A Weasley...missing the family trip for a Malfoy..."

Scorpius clenched his fists and his teeth, but inside, he was remembering to be reasonable. Rose wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeves, and pulled on Scorpius' wrist. She implored with her eyes. Scorpius breathed deeply and nodded, indicating that she may talk. Rose stood up.

"Please don't be angry at him," Rose started, her voice slightly quivering, but she looked brave and ready. "He's being honest; we did nothing. Actually...he's just being really kind to me, that's why I'm here. He—" she hesitated a bit when Ron rounded on her, looking furious and a bit impatient, but Hermione's waiting face, although looking strict, made her continue. "He was just helping me. I—I had a...an argument with my parents and, well, I kind of left home and I had nowhere to stay and he let me..."

Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, and Ron turned around once again. Rose looked at Scorpius; he was shaking his head, as if telling her that she shouldn't have lied. But Rose knew she had to. Hermione sat on the sofa and sighed again. She looked up at Scorpius and Rose, who were staring at Ron's back apprehensively.

"The two of you," she said gently, all her coldness evaporated. "Sit down."

Rose and Scorpius sat down.

"Are you sure nothing happened?" Hermione asked calmly.

"Yes," Rose answered, her voice cracked. It pained her to see her parents like that, even if she knew that their disappointment and accusations were not directed at her, but towards Scorpius, which hurt her even more, knowing that her parents saw her as a Malfoy, not as their daughter.

"How long have you been staying here?" Hermione asked Rose. "Since we left?"

"No," Rose replied as calmly as she can. "Just last night—"

"Where did you sleep?" Ron said ferociously, which made Rose flinch.

"My room," Scorpius snapped, his tone verging on rebelliousness. "Problem?"

Rose nudged his knuckle with her knee and gave him a forbidding look. Ron grew ruddier in the face, and looked as if he wanted to hit Scorpius. Hermione took a sharp intake of breath when she heard her 'son' answer.

"We didn't sleep in the same room!" Rose said quickly. "He just let me sleep in his. Promise."

Ron scoffed, "Huh. A Malfoy promising. Never trust on that."

"Ron that was uncalled for," Hermione said firmly. She turned to Rose, "Whatever discord you have between you and your parents, I think you ought to fix it, especially that it's the Christmas season. You should have not run away. They must be very worried. They're your parents after all."

Rose couldn't help but sob so suddenly. Ron and Hermione were momentarily taken aback by this outburst of emotion, but Scorpius merely moved closer to her and patted her on the back, as she hid her face beneath her hair. Scorpius knew it was very hard for Rose; there she was, in her own home, with her family, only, they didn't know that _she_ was a part of their family. And Rose's mum talking about how worried Rose's 'parents' are, he didn't even wonder why Rose started crying.

Hermione looked at Scorpius concernedly, but clearly, she didn't know what to do. Rose sniffed and rubbed her eyes and then thickly said, "Sorry...I'm sorry..."

"Can she stay here?" Scorpius asked Hermione.

"No!" Rose said. "I should go back home." She sounded unconvincing and pathetic.

"Mum," he pleaded.

Hermione looked round at her husband, who stood uncomfortably, trying to give the impression of his total control, but he only grunted and then went to the kitchen.

"You can stay in the guest room," Hermione decided. "But tomorrow, I suggest you talk to your parents and return to them. They'd be heartbroken if you didn't. It's Christmas Eve tomorrow."

Rose looked at Hermione with the desire to hug her and cry on her shoulders, needing that she told her that everything will be alright, but she restrained herself and nodded meekly. Hermione gave her a sympathetic look and hesitated before reaching out and gently patting her knee. She stood up and followed Ron in the kitchen. Moments later, Scorpius and Rose heard them talking.

"This is horrible," Rose breathed in her hands. "You shouldn't have made me stay tonight."

"But you wanted to," Scorpius said quietly beside her.

"Yeah, but they don't," she said wearily.

Scorpius reluctantly squeezed her shoulder, and then moved back away from her. "It'll be alright,"

Rose laughed shakily. "When?"

Scorpius didn't know.

* * *

_I have not proofread this in any way whatsoever, so again, I plead to you that you point out the mistakes, if there are any and I'm sure there are, because I'm too lazy to go over this. Sorry. But college really sucks for me and my eyes are popping out now, thank you very much._

_Oh, and I know the scene in the club was totally Le Cliché, I mean, Rose being stupid and getting cornered by a creepazoid, then Scorpius barges in and saves the day. Cliché, right? But then I thought of changing that one, and making Rose to kind of try flirting with him a little, thinking that maybe it could turn to love (which was damn ridiculous) and then the creepazoid gets a little carried away with Rose and then Scorpius sees them and gets dangerously and mysteriously jealous and then the Rose and Scorpius would start fighting...but I didn't want that to happen because I don't want them to fight because I know they've realized that all they could count on and trust was each other._

_Rant over._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings. _


	12. The Weasley Family Plus One

_Chapter 12_

* * *

Rose never slept in her house's guest room before. Once when she was six, she asked her father why they even had a guest's bedroom when they didn't have any guests to sleep in it. She remembered Ron's laugh after hearing her innocent question. Ron said that she had a point, but he believed that sooner or later, they would have a visitor who would choose to sleep in the guest room. The only visitors they had were Rose's cousins, and all of them usually slept in the living room inside a fort they built out of blankets and pillows, pretending that they were camping outside.

The young Rose then wondered why they didn't use the guest room even when they had their cousins over. She came to a conclusion that maybe that that room, which was next to the eerie attic stairs, was haunted. Since then, she never wanted to go inside there. And after she realized that thinking the room was haunted was childish, the thought of entering the guest room didn't pass her mind.

But now, she was to sleep in there. The room, although decorated with soft-coloured wallpaper and nice wooden pieces of furniture, looked bland to her. She felt cold and isolated. Rose sighed and sat down on the mattress squeaky from years of not being laid upon. Someone came knocking on her door.

"Oh, it's just you," Rose said as her heart returned to its normal pace after opening the door.

"You left your bag," Scorpius said, thrusting to her the bag that contained her possessions. Rose took it and nodded. "You alright?"

"Yeah, sure."

Scorpius considered for a moment before bidding her goodnight and closing the door curtly. Rose screwed her eyes shut and exhaled in frustration. She changed in her night clothes and climbed on the bed, making herself feel as comfortable as possible. But after a few minutes of tossing and turning and squirming, she gave up, and instead, did what she always did whenever she couldn't sleep well at night; she went downstairs to the kitchen to get a mug of hot chocolate.

Rose developed this habit when she was young, under the influence of Ron. She once saw him fussing over the kitchen counter with the cocoa powder the night he found out from Albus that a little boy gave Rose a single red rose when they were only five. Ron told her she was growing up too fast and that he couldn't sleep. She joined him with his hot chocolate session and told him everything was going to be alright.

Rose's eyes stung as she had that memory, but willed herself not to start bawling again when she saw that she was not alone in the kitchen. Ron was in there, a fresh mug of hot chocolate in his hands. His freckles were more visible than ever.

"Wh—re—?" he started incoherently. He shook his head, grumbled and went upstairs. Rose felt so pained that it almost felt like something was squeezing her chest tightly that she couldn't breathe. She looked down at her feet.

"He's not angry," came Hermione's voice. Rose looked up and saw her screwing shut the jar of cocoa powder. "He's just being emotional. Emotional about Scorpius."

"Why?" Rose croaked.

Hermione sighed and placed the jar on the table. "Ron's really looking forward for this trip, since it's only going to be a short one because the Ministry needs us back so fast from the winter holidays. He just wanted to spend time with the family, particularly with Scorpius. Our son…seemed to change somehow. We don't know…but Ron was affected and he wanted to just have time with him…"

"But then he didn't come with you and instead…" Rose choked. "Instead…he was with me…"

Hermione nodded sadly. "I don't blame you, Rose. Don't think about that. It's nice that Scorpius pushed away an old immature family grudge and helped you, but I'm afraid you're doing a wrong turn. You needn't run away from your pare—"

"I know," although Rose was sure she didn't, because she didn't actually ran away from her real parents. She was trying to run _to_ them.

"Erm, Rose?" Hermione began curiously.

"Yes, mu—Mrs. Weasley?"

"Did Scorpius get into a fight?" she asked worriedly.

Rose's breath hitched in her throat as she realized that, of course, they noticed Scorpius' little cuts and that bruise on his forehead. "Right…" Rose's brain whirred as she thought of a lie, since telling Hermione that they went to a club didn't sound pleasant at all. "We were at the park this afternoon and, well…h—he…lost his—t—temper because some bloke was being…you know…."

Hermione looked worried and disappointed. "I hope you haven't seen a mortifyingly bad behaviour of his—"

"No, no! It's fine. He's fine. I mended some of his wounds and it's alright, really."

"Thank you," Hermione replied genuinely. After a second of silence, "You needed something?"

"Huh?"

"You came down here. Did you need something? How can I help?"

Rose shook her head vigorously and said, "Please, no. I was only…I couldn't sleep, so—I didn't want to trouble you or anything."

"It's okay, I'm not being troubled. You couldn't sleep, did you say?"

Rose meekly nodded and mumbled, "I was going to have myself some hot chocolate then I realized I had no right of rummaging your cupboards at night—"

Rose was startled as she heard Hermione chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Mrs. Weasley! I wasn't going to—"

"No, no," Hermione said sentimentally. "It's just odd; my husband does the same when he can't sleep. Did you see him with that mug? Yeah, I know he couldn't sleep tonight, so I prepared him some hot chocolate. There's still hot water left if you want."

"I couldn't—"

"I insist," Hermione said kindly. She gave Rose a small smile and walked past her towards the stairs. Rose smiled to herself and then opened one of the cupboards where she obtained a pack of honey marshmallows.

"Oh, you like honey marshmallows too?" Hermione asked in surprise, which made Rose jump, as she thought Hermione had gone up to her room.

"Er—yes," Rose said sheepishly.

Hermione's face glowed. "That's curious, I do too."

She shrugged and continued her way up.

Rose was smiling as she made herself her own beverage. She didn't hear the descending footsteps on the stairs a few moments after.

"Can you make me something too?" Scorpius edged towards her peering down inside the mug as she stirred.

"You can have this one," Rose said tiredly, pushing the mug towards him.

"I don't drink this stuff," he said with a wrinkled nose. "Only coffee and tea, at a few occasions, Firewhisky."

"Then you surely couldn't be a Weasley," she joked weakly before taking a sip from her mug.

Scorpius pushed himself up and sat down on the surface of the table. He popped a piece of marshmallow in his mouth and chewed silently.

"Couldn't sleep?" Rose asked him.

"Yeah…" Scorpius ate another marshmallow. "I heard you and your mum. She's really nice, although I can tell she didn't like what I did."

"She's just worried," Rose replied. "Listen, I'm coming back tomorrow."

"Back where?"

Rose looked down at her mug. "Back to the manor. Then I'll apologize to your folks and then I'll go and stay in Hogwarts."

"Where did that plan come from?"

Rose exhaled wearily. "Mum's right. You know, even if they're not my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy think I'm their daughter, therefore, I should act at least like it. I'm going to apologize for leaving so suddenly."

Scorpius got down from the table and lowered his head so he could peer at Rose's face. "You don't have to do that," he said in a low controlled voice. "You could stay here over for Christmas. You could be with your real family. You don't have to be alone."

Rose looked at him quickly; her eyes gleamed with helplessness and defeat. "Don't you get it? If I stayed here, I'll only be tormenting myself. Yes, they're my family, but to them, I'm not! My brother hates me. My dad doesn't trust me. My mother's nice to me, alright, but I assume she's only acting that way because she finds reason in you! As much as I want to, I don't seem to belong here anymore. I couldn't stay here; it doesn't work that way. I couldn't stay in your home with your parents either. I don't know, but it's too strange for me…"

"So, you'll be alone in Hogwarts 'til everyone's back?"

"I'll have the professors and the ghosts, don't worry," she said drily. Rose remained silent. Then, "I don't understand how you take all these."

Scorpius looked at her enquiringly.

She continued. "Don't you want to spend your Christmas with your family? You miss them, I'm sure. But how can you stand to live here when you—?"

"I don't hate your family."

"I wasn't going to say that."

Scorpius sighed. "I _do_ want to spend Christmas with my own family, but what's the point? The desire isn't...mutual. But I don't want to be stuck here too. Your family's nice and all, but, being with them, acting like everything's alright, it's just not natural when something's really wrong and you're the only one who knows that. Of course, you know that to. You understand, and that's why I wanted you to stay."

Scorpius stared at her for a couple of moments, and then made up his mind. "I'll come with you. I'll go back to Hogwarts too."

"But…dad…Dad misses you," Rose said softly.

"He's not _my_ dad."

Rose considered for a moment. "You're not going to change your mind, are you? Why am I even asking that? You never change your mind."

Rose didn't even look at Scorpius as she said this. She drank half of her cocoa as quickly as she can and then left the half empty mug on the table, forgetting that she was not allowed to leve things messy like how she used to because it wasn't really her house anymore. She muttered goodnight and then rushed upstairs to the guest's room.

Scorpius watched her go, her last words before she left still echoing in his mind_. 'You never change your mind.' _But he already did; he changed his mind about Rose, now that he really knew what she was like, now that the only people they could solely rely on was each other. He smiled and took a sip from Rose's mug. He realized that he actually liked hot chocolate.

.

The next morning was a little bit awkward. Rose got up as soon as dawn break and immediately cleaned up. The bed was already made, her things were prepared and packed, and she had her day clothes on. All she had to do was talk to her real parents and go to her 'other' parents. Rose frowned at the thought.

But then, she couldn't find herself to stand up from the edge of her bed. She sat there, stiff and frozen. She didn't want to leave, although she knew she must.

Someone knocked at the door again, and she ignored it.

"Rose…" Scorpius twisted the door handle and poked his head on the little crack of the door he opened. He saw Rose ashen-faced, staring at the floor with a scared expression. He immediately went inside and closed the door behind him.

"You're leaving already?" he said, glancing at her clothes. Rose shook her head. "Then, what…"

Rose gulped. "I have to talk to them first."

Scorpius sat down beside her. "Then you're going to leave?"

"I must."

"What are you going to say to them?"

Rose shrugged. Scorpius patted her on the back and said, "Breakfast's ready."

Scorpius led her out of the room and downstairs. A delicious smell of bacon and eggs greeted them. They reached the kitchen and dining area, where they found the Weasleys having their breakfast.

"Rose has something to say," Scorpius announced seriously.

Everyone looked at her. Hugo was close to glaring at her, Ron was looking disgruntled and Hermione looked patient. Rose suddenly felt a wave of discourage, and nearly ran out of the room, if Scorpius hadn't just taken hold of her hand behind her.

"Go," he whispered so softly that she barely heard him.

"Erm," Rose began shakily. "Good morning….erm…I'd just like to thank you for letting me stay, though I know I've caused…trouble between you and Scorpius here—"

"Great, she knows," Hugo muttered and went back to forking his bacon murderously.

"Hugo," Hermione reprimanded.

Rose breathed slowly. "Right, well, I'm really sorry. I am—" she had to stop abruptly to force her tears back. "And I do appreciate Scorpius' help, but I have to go…_home_." Her voice cracked.

Scorpius squeezed her hand.

"Thank you, Mrs….m—Mrs. Weasley," Rose continued. "What you said helped."

"I'm a parent too, that's all," she replied humbly.

"And Scorpius is just being a great friend, really," Rose added, this time, indirectly addressing Ron, who was looking at one spot in the newspaper which had advertisements about Niffler trainers, probably pretending to read. "I guess, I guess I have to leave now. My p—parents are expecting me, I think…"

"Have some breakfast first," grunted Ron, still looking at the newspaper.

Hugo's fork clattered against his plate and he was looking incredulously at his father. Hermione, meanwhile, took this as a signal to levitate an extra plate towards the dining table, and she started to shovel some eggs and strips of bacon on it.

"Do you want toast?" she asked Rose.

Rose was still staring gratefully at Ron. Scorpius smiled and pushed her down on a chair. He sat beside her, and then took his own plate with his. Rose received her plate and meekly started eating. Hugo got up and stomped upstairs, to which Hermione called out, and once ignored, she apologized to Rose for his ill behaviour. Ron continued to eat his breakfast and read the paper as if Rose didn't exist. Though, she knew he was thinking hard about something, because she often saw that wistful expression on his face whenever he is deep in thought. Rose snuck a glance at Scorpius, he was smiling encouragingly at her. Moments later, the two of them were the only ones left in the dining area. Hermione asked Scorpius to clean up as she had to send and answer letters from her department in the Ministry while Ron silently went in the lounge room to finish reading his newspaper.

"That was nice," Scorpius whispered.

"Maybe he was just forced to invite me for breakfast."

Scorpius shrugged and tossed his plate on the sink. "Wait," he said once Rose was finished. "I have to wash all these without magic?"

Rose smirked at him. "It's how we are disciplined. Are you complaining?"

"Pssh, no! I was just making sure…"

Rose helped him pile up the dirty plates and the forks and knives. She quietly said, "How're you going to Hogwarts? Have you thought of what you're going to tell them?"

Scorpius knitted his eyebrows. "No, I haven't. But whatever they say, I'm going."

"When will you leave?"

"At the same time as you will—"

The glass Rose was holding slipped from her hand and landed on the sink loudly. Fortunately, it didn't break.

"What was that?" came Ron's voice.

"I slipped." Scorpius said coldly; Ron replied with a string of incoherent mutters. Scorpius turned to Rose. "Don't worry. After you leave, I'll tell your parents I'm off early to Hogwarts and—"

"You're being difficult to them!" Rose whispered frantically. "They want to spend time with you! You can't just leave them! Especially now—"

"The same situation goes with you," Scorpius countered. "My mum and dad are probably worried sick and infinitely in agony after you disappeared. And then you expect them to be just okay with everything when you come to their doorstep, saying sorry and then setting off to school early after that?"

"I don't expect them to be okay…I just…"

"I know how you feel. You feel guilty but you don't really want to do it either. Trust me. I know. How many times will I be telling you that?"

Rose replied with a sigh.

Scorpius grabbed the sponge from her hand. "Go on in your room and, I don't know, meditate or something. You're stressing yourself. I'll finish in here and when I'm done you can say goodbye and go on."

"Why do I have to say goodbye after you finish washing the dishes?" Rose asked him.

"Because," he replied as he tried to concentrate on scrubbing off grease from one of the plates. "You need me."

Rose scowled at him, to which Scorpius playfully smirked. "Admit it," he added. "You need my support."

"Ego," Rose breathed and went upstairs.

After Scorpius was finished washing the dishes, he made his way upstairs towards Rose's room but Ron called his attention. He slowly got down the stairs.

"Son," Ron said. "Is Rose going home now?"

Scorpius suppressed the urge to say something disrespectful to him. He just didn't like it how Ron acted towards Rose last night. It hurt Rose really badly.

"Yeah," was all the pseudo-Weasley had said.

Ron shifted his foot and nodded. "I need to talk to her first," he said. And then he quickly added when he saw Scorpius' reaction, "I'm not going to scream at her or whatever you're thinking. I just want to tell her something."

Scorpius frowned, and then went up to the guest room. He rapped at the door, and Rose opened it. "You're leaving."

"Okay," she said.

"But your dad wants to talk to you first."

Rose's eyes widened. "Why?"

"I dunno. But you're not going to talk to him, are you?"

Rose shouldered her bag and pushed Scorpius aside, heading off downstairs. Scorpius dragged her back gently and hissed, "He'll probably say ugly stuff to you—"

"I'm talking to him."

Rose went to the lounge before Scorpius could even catch up. Ron was sitting in an armchair. He looked up when Rose arrived. "Are you in a hurry?" he asked.

"Rose..." Scorpius came behind her. Rose peered at him, breathed and then told Ron, "No. I—I'll talk with you, Mr. Weasley, sure."

Ron nodded and then led the way to a little study room next to the lounge. Rose went inside and then Ron closed the door. Scorpius gritted his teeth and sat down restlessly. He stayed silent, trying to pick out any of their conversation, but he heard nothing.

Meanwhile, inside the study room, contrary to what Scorpius thought, Ron was being very polite. He sat behind his desk and insisted that Rose sit on the chair propped before it, just like how it is in school offices. Rose was beyond nervous. Although she remained composed on the outside, her heart was hammering inside her ribcage. Ron looked at her grimly, and she expected the worst. But what Ron told her calmed her down a great deal afterwards.

"Are you alright?"

Rose flinched slightly. "I'm sorry...what?"

"Hermione's right. You shouldn't have run away from your parents. Even if you don't feel so good about them for a moment..." He looked down sadly as he said this.

"I'm sorry—"

"Rose, I'm a parent too," Ron cut in. "When Scorpius said that he didn't want to join us for the family trip, I was deeply hurt. I wanted to spend some time with my old boy. He really changed. But I guess he has his good reasons why he decided to skip the vacation with us. I trusted him not to come...but I reckon I can't let him go now just that easily, and I actually begged my wife that we come home for Scorpius. I realized that maybe out-of-town vacations are not necessary to have a special time with your family. Being together is enough..."

Rose hadn't noticed that silent tears started to stream down her face. She bowed her head, covering her face in her blonde hair, and surreptitiously wiped her wet cheeks.

"I'm sorry for bringing up this talk about family," Ron said, oddly sentimental. "Have some tissue."

He opened a drawer and got a box of tissue for her. Rose only took it out of courtesy.

"Now," he continued. "When I found out he's with you while his family was worrying about him—" Rose shrank back in her seat, "—I couldn't help but feel betrayed. And for a moment, I blamed you. That was not fair. I'm sorry. But Rose, know this: I don't feel entirely good towards your family, but I don't hate them. I know they're already redeeming themselves, but I just can't seem to trust them that easily after everything."

"I understand. Sir." Rose realized that her prejudice against the Malfoys was really unfair. She was really unfair to Scorpius.

"Please, don't think I'm a bad person. I can be judgmental, but I don't want you to think I just go on hating on people."

Rose nodded.

"Scorpius helped you, right?" Ron asked lightly.

"Yes. But nothing happened, I swear."

Ron bobbed his head. "He really has changed. Normally, he wouldn't even think of talking to someone like you. I _am_ proud of him, but he just brings to many surprises."

Rose felt a lump settle in her throat as she said, "Your son's a good kid."

Ron looked at her strangely as silence fell upon them. Rose stared back, and what was going through her mind was maybe, somehow, her father could see the truth in her eyes, her eyes she got from Hermione, and remember everything. Maybe Ron could see that she really was his daughter, and then everything would be back to how it is. But no.

"I'm just going to ask you this one question," Ron said carefully, still maintaining their eye contact. "And I hope I'm not, in any way, violating...er, any unspoken personal rights or whatever it is." He looked so utterly uncomfortable that he seemed to be losing his words.

"I—I'm sure you won't."

Ron cleared his throat and straightened himself in his seat. He set his lips in a firm line and looked at her in the eye. "Rose," he began. "Do you feel anything for Scorpius?"

She was taken aback, so much that she exclaimed, "Huh?"

"It was jus—"

"He—he's nice. I admit," Rose said nervously. "...that I didn't really like him at first, but now I got to really know him and I think he's...he's a _real_ person."

And she knew she was being genuine.

"So...?"

"He's a good friend?" Rose suggested weakly.

Ron shook his head, a smile already forming in his once stern face. He stood up and said, "Very well, very well..."

Rose got to her feet as well and followed Ron heading to the door. Ron opened it for her, but before he could let her leave the room, he said, "Now go back to your parents and tell them you love them. Because they feel the same way. Trust me, I know."

Rose looked at him meaningfully; the lump in her throat became more painful. She nodded and went out as fast as she could, quickly bringing her hand to her eyes. Scorpius stood up when he sensed Rose come out, and then seeing her face down and one of her hands on it, he rushed in front of her.

"What happened?"

Rose looked at him and he felt relieved; she was smiling, though sadly. "I'm fine."

"What did he tell you?" Scorpius prodded anxiously. To his surprise, Rose laughed slightly. "What?"

She shook her head. "Is...Is mum upstairs? I want to thank her and say goodbye..."

"Yeah...you want me to—"

"No," she smiled at him again, and then sniffed thickly. She spoke again, her voice shaking a bit, "I'll tell her goodbye and then I'll leave and I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts—"

"I'll go with you to the manor—"

"Mmm-mmm," Rose closed her eyes and shook her head disapprovingly. "No, please. I think it would be less complicated if I did this alone, alright?"

"Sure," Scorpius nodded reluctantly. Rose sighed and carefully went upstairs. Moments later, she and Hermione came back down.

"Well," Hermione said. "I do hope you and your family solve whatever your problem is."

"We will," said Rose. "Thank you again. And I'm sorry for causing much trouble."

Hermione shook her head the same way Scorpius saw how Rose did. How can she not see the resemblance between her and Rose? "You're a teenager and you're troubled. I've done things more rash than what you did when I was your age. Now, off you go—"

"I'll call the Knight Bus for you," said Scorpius immediately. He grabbed Rose's wrist and together, they dashed out of the Weasleys' house. Rose glanced back several times and Scorpius knew what was going through her mind.

"Come on," he said, dropping Rose's wrist.

They stopped on the sidewalk. Scorpius raised his wand hand and after a few moments, the purple Knight Bus sounded to a halt before them.

"You two again," Mike remarked.

"No, just her," Scorpius replied. Rose got on the bus and looked down at Scorpius. "I'll see you." He stepped back and placed his cold hands in his pockets as he squinted against the chilly winter breeze.

"Yeah, alright," Rose mumbled, taking a last good look at her house some distance away.

"And please don't break Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy's heart. I still love them, you know, even if they cannot presently return the feeling," he gave her a wry smile.

Rose snorted and went inside.

"Nice chap, you are," Mike commented. "Sneaky, but nice."

The bus zoomed away. Scorpius remained in his spot for a couple of seconds, thinking of how long it would take the next time he could see her again. He thought that maybe he should leave as soon as he can, so he ran inside his house.

"Dad!" he called. "Dad! Dad! I—"

"I need to talk to you, Scorp," Ron said, emerging from the study. He looked really solemn.

"Oh—y—you do?" replied Scorpius, taken aback. "Al—alright, I was going to say the same."

Ron motioned for him to join him in the study. He took his seat and so did Scorpius.

"What did you tell Rose?" Scorpius asked immediately before everything else.

"I didn't want to talk to you about that," Ron said rather impatiently. "But I assure you, I didn't say anything hurtful or whatever you expected me to."

"Then what did you want me for?"

Ron peered at him knowingly, "You want to go back to Hogwarts right now, right?"

Scorpius stammered for an answer. Ron didn't seem angry about it. "Yeah."

"It's all because of Rose?"

Scorpius' chest constricted. What is this man on about? "That's….that's more complicated than that."

"I have an idea," Ron mused as he examined the curtains. Then he sighed and looked at his 'son' seriously. "I just have one question."

"Sure."

"Do you love Rose?"

* * *

_Boom, cliffhanger! I think this chapter is corny, but you be the judge! And I don't know about you, but Rose immensely confused me in this one._

_Apologies for wrong grammar and spellings._


	13. Friend, Visitor, Trust

_Chapter 13_

* * *

Astoria came running to Rose once she saw her standing expectantly on the threshold of the manor. She attacked her daughter with a suffocating hug. She looked like she wanted to sob her heart out built up with fear and worry for her. Then she held Rose an arm's length and scolded her. Due to an uncontrollably unpleasant language used by Mrs. Astoria Malfoy, her reprimands would not appear in print.

Rose felt guilty, but she did not feel horrible at all. "I can explain," she said when she found an opportunity to say something between Astoria's rebuking.

"You better explain!" Astoria said, still holding Rose's shoulders. Then she hugged her again tightly. "Oh, I was so scared! So was your father!"

And as if on cue, Draco came.

"Astoria, do you want the trout—Rose?" he said. He looked very surprised but just after a moment he was able to compose himself. "So you're back."

Rose looked uncomfortable. Then she repeated, "I can explain."

"Get your things upstairs first," Draco said firmly. "We'll talk at lunch time."

"Al—alright." Rose walked past him and immediately went up.

She found Frompy sullenly dusting off the pieces of furniture in her bedroom. Rose placed her bag on her bed and the house-elf turned around. Frompy dropped her feather duster and clapped her hands jubilantly.

"Miss is back!" She cheered.

"Yes," Rose said sadly. "I'm sorry, Frompy—"

"Why is miss says sorry to Frompy?"

"I might've placed you in trouble. Have I done that?"

Frompy shook her head.

"Tell me what happened when mother and father found out," Rose said kindly as she took a seat on her bed.

"When the guests were went away, Miss Rose's mother and father came to checks on Miss Rose. But miss' room is empty, so they asks Frompy. I told them she went with her friend. They tolds Frompy that I should have tolds them but Frompy said to them that Miss Rose made Frompy promise not to tell anyone."

"And?" Rose asked. "What did they do?"

"They sent owls to their friends and to Miss Rose's friends but no ones knew where she is. Master and Mistress were unhappy and worried, very very much, miss—"

"Well, I was fine," Rose said. "You can leave me now, Frompy. And thank you…for not telling them."

"It's alright, miss," Frompy bowed. "I is only happy that miss is back and safe."

And Rose was all alone again. After some time, Frompy came back announcing that lunch was ready. Rose took her seat on the long elegant table of the dining room. Astoria sat opposite her and Draco sat at the head of the table. Everybody was quiet; only the clatter of their knives and forks on their plates made sounds. Finally, Astoria spoke.

"_Ocean Trout with Sauce Creme and Salmon Pearls._ This is nice, Draco. I thought you were going to cook the tuna."

"You said you wanted the trout," her husband said.

Rose looked up, somewhat surprised to find out that Draco cooked her lunch. He looked at her and then cleared his throat. "Eat your food, Rose," he said. "Before it gets cold."

"I thought we were going to talk about what happened," Rose said quietly. She jumped slightly when Astoria loudly dropped her knife and fork.

"Of course we are going to," she said. "Rose, you better tell us everything."

"I will, I will," Rose said, then remembered Hermione and Ron's reactions when they found out she was with Scorpius sans adult supervision. "But I don't think it would be good to do so while eating."

"I oppose," Draco said. "Food creates a comfortable environment, I believe."

"Alright," Rose said in a small voice.

"Better start then."

"Alright," she played with her trout first, thinking of how to start her story. "I was with a friend."

"Frompy told us. And? Who is this friend?" Draco said conversationally, his attention seemed to be on his food solely, but Rose knew that he was eager for her explanation. She was glad that he was not too intense. "Do we know this friend? Sophie and Amara didn't know where you were. Not even Shawn."

Rose scoffed at the mention of her supposedly boyfriend. Now that she was able to think about him after what seemed like decades, she realized that it was utterly stupid of her to have this infatuation for him. After her very few experiences with Shawn's company before the winter break, Rose grasped that he only enjoyed her physically. There was no emotional and intellectual connection between them whatsoever. He only wanted a physical relationship, something in which Rose didn't find any sense. And now she was sure that her little naïve schoolgirl crush would not become anything deeper. Actually, she was happy to admit that it was now nonexistent.

Astoria did not let Rose's reaction at the reference of her boyfriend come to a pass. She raised her eyebrows and asked, "Has something gone wrong between you and Shawn, dear?"

"No," Rose said frustratingly. "I mean, yeah. All along there was something wrong. He's a prick. Right from the beginning."

"I thought you liked him ever since you first saw him?"

Draco choked on his water. "And _I_ thought we were discussing Rose's running away? Not boy troubles."

Rose flushed. Astoria, meanwhile, said, "I think this is relevant. Now, Rosie-daisy, continue."

"Yeah, I thought I liked him too, but things change," she said pensively. Then, out of the blue, Scorpius popped into her mind. Well, Scorpius is a bigger prick. _And_ he probably also only wanted a physical relationship. With other girls, of course. Not to her, of course. She didn't mind, of course. But didn't their "quality time" change anything regarding her views? It did, of course. It did very much. Rose smiled.

"Honey, you're dazing," Astoria said.

"Oh, right," Rose said. "What were we talking about?"

"Shawn—"

"Can we please skip that?" Draco said in an odd tone. "So, who was this friend?"

"Did you and Shawn break up?" Astoria urged, disregarding the discomfort it causes towards her husband.

Rose hesitated. Like Draco, she also did not want to talk about her pseudo-boyfriend. "Not officially," she said with a scowl. "Anyways, yeah, you know this—this friend. But you mustn't judge him—"

"Him?" Draco asked in alarm, his hand gripping his knife tightly. "Your friend's a he?"

"Er, yeah—"

"Who?"

"H—"

"Does he go to Hogwarts?"

"Ye—"

"Is he smart?"

"Wha—"

"Is he safe?"

Rose opened her mouth and then knitted her eyebrows. "Safe? Wh—what—what does—what?"

"Is he _safe_?"

Rose looked at Astoria for help, who, after all this time, was only watching her husband and Rose for entertainment. Astoria's laugh twinkled. She turned to Draco. "I thought we were discussing Rose's running away?"

Draco huffed proudly. "This is relevant."

"Stop being adorable," Astoria murmured.

He went back to Rose. "Who is this friend?"

Rose shifted in her seat. "May I please tell my story the way I want it to be told?"

"Are we allowed to ask questions?" Astoria said, a smile apparent on her face despite the matter at hand.

"As…as long as it does not trample on my privacy—"

"Privacy, meaning?" Draco said.

"Just let me explain it on my own," Rose implored. Astoria shot Draco a forbidding look and he unwillingly succumbed on Rose's condition.

"Go ahead," he grunted. "Start at the very beginning."

_Beginning?_ Rose thought frantically. _Beginning? Alright. Scorpius is your son and we switched lives. _"This—friend, erm, this friend showed up at the party. And well, I went with him—"

Astoria squeaked. "Cupcake, you didn't do _it_, did you?"

"What! No!" Rose said, her eyes flying from Astoria's hurt face to Draco's alarmed one. "No! Just listen first to the story before anything else!"

"Alright," Draco said forebodingly.

"Are you really going to listen?" Rose asked. The Malfoys made no clear response. She sighed and continued. "Okay, so I—"

"Why did you go with him?" Draco asked. "Did he force you to?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "Nobody forced me. I came on my own accord. I went with him because—" She stopped and thought. _I went with him because I was emotional and drunk and hungry for the love and warmth of my home. _"I went with him because I needed company and he was the only person I could turn to—" She noticed that Draco was about to say something again so she spoke up fast before he could. "—I got in a fight with Shawn and Sophie and Amara couldn't help because they were on Shawn's side and my friend was the only one I could trust."

"Aaaw, Rosie! My dear Rosie!" Astoria cried tenderly. "You could always turn to your mummy!"

"What did this Shawn do to you?" Draco asked.

"It was just a silly fight," Rose lied. "I'm fine now. My friend really helped."

"Who is this friend?"

She ignored the question, thinking that if they found out that it was Scorpius, they would not heed her explanation any longer. "So, we went to his house and he let me sleep there—and no, we did not do anything! Really. And then we talked," And_ went to a club and he got beat up and then my parents who think they're his parents came and a big conflict ensued that almost tore my heart out. _"And talked some more. And…he just helped—"

"That's all?"

"Yeah, I guess—"

"You guess?"

"No, I know," Rose snapped. "I'm sorry." She added.

"No kissing, hugging, holding?" Astoria asked. Rose looked at her uneasily. "Well, he's a boy and you're a girl after all!"

"None. Nothing." Rose shook her head. They all went back to eating their meal.

Silence.

"Well, I'm glad you're alright," Draco said as he finished his food. He wiped his mouth with his table napkin and then set his hands firmly on the table, looking professional as he gazed at Rose. "I trust you, and you know that. We trust you."

Rose nodded.

"So who was your friend?"

Rose chewed on her tongue before answering, "Scorpius Weasley."

"Scorpius…Scorpius Weasley?" Draco said unfathomably.

"Yeah, he's my friend now," Rose answered simply.

"Sweetheart," Astoria breathed. "You're friends with him now. Oh, that's my sweet child! Rose, what a change you are! Remember, you used to sneer and scowl at his name!"

"How did this happen? You said he came to the soirée?" Draco said.

"That's not important. He just came. I was not forced to go or anything. I found out that he really was nice."

"I'm happy that you've finally learned to set aside differences," he said. "But I hope you do not do it within the process of running away. We were worried sick thinking of where and how you were."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. It won't happen again."

"It better not." Draco watched Rose critically as she meekly ate her lunch, and then said. "Are you sure nothing happened? Nothing intimate?"

Rose closed her eyes and scoffed. "Nothing of the sort. We just talked."

"Astoria," Draco said. "Don't you think two nights is a long time for talking?"

"Yes, I do think that's long."

Draco turned to Rose to give her an enquiring look.

"Last night, I was supposed to go home, but then Scorpius' parents found out about me—"

"Ron and Hermione?" Draco said. "They didn't know you were in their house."

Rose reluctantly added a few bits of truth here and there. Watching Astoria and Draco discover that they were alone in a house for quite a period of time alarmed their parental protective senses.

"Rose, you said—"

"Nothing happened!" she defended. "Merlin, you two are just like Scorpius' parents! Anyways, they found out about me and his mum said I could stay for the night. I slept in the guest room."

"Ron took it lightly?" Draco asked in disbelief.

"No," Rose hid her face. "He was angry. Furious. But eventually he calmed down—"

"Did he—"

"He was civil," Rose said firmly. "And no, he did not curse our family name. He might've muttered a few comments but he did not cause any damage. It was really alright. Please don't get worried or angry now, please."

"Draco, darling, is the cake ready yet?" Astoria asked from nowhere.

"I'm waiting for all of you to finish your lunch."

"What cake?" Rose said, hoping to stir the conversation elsewhere.

"It's a nice and celebratory coincident," Astoria said cheerfully. "Your father here decided to bake chocolate and banana cake, your favorite, just before cooking our lunch and now, here you are! You're back! Coincidence, right! It's your favorite cake and now you're back! Ha-ha!"

"You—you bake?" Rose asked Draco.

"Yes," he replied. "Don't you remember? I thought you to bake. Your first one is a fruitcake."

Rose smiled widely as a memory flashed before her. She could almost taste the slice of fruitcake Scorpius gave her. "So that's what it is…"

"Sorry?"

"Nothing."

They fell silent for a moment again before Draco spoke again. "Rose, if you have any problems, you can always come to us."

Rose nodded awkwardly.

"We don't want you coming to anyone just like that, disappearing and not letting us know how you were."

"I'm sorry," Rose said. "But you do trust Scorpius, right?"

"We hardly know the boy," Astoria said. "Except from your previous stories. You always say that he's a git, but he's brilliant and all that."

"Well—I've changed my perception. He's nice."

Draco cleared his throat ostentatiously.

"Are—are you angry…fa—father?" Rose said nervously.

"Just worried,"

"Of what?"

"I'm going to get the cake." Draco stood up and went to the kitchen.

Rose forked her trout languidly. Astoria tried to peek at her face and smiled sympathetically. "Usually," she said in a soft voice. "Your father turns away when he knows he's about to feel an emotion aside from anger, worry and triumph. He's not worried at all. Rosie, he's scared…and sentimental."

Rose cringed. Draco Malfoy was scared and sentimental. Something was wrong there. "Wh—why?"

Astoria smiled sweetly and affectionately. "If only you have seen the way you smiled and how your eyes twinkled…Oh, sweat pea, your father just can't help feeling like he's losing something! What more, Scorpius Weasley is involved."

Rose, who happened to choose the wrong moment to take a sip of water, choked and coughed painfully. "No, oh no no no…That's not it—" Her voice sounded different either from an embarrassed denial of her mother's theory or from the strain her throat underwent from choking on water.

Astoria shrugged and winked. "I got your back, Rosie, dear. Don't worry."

After some time, Draco returned with the cake. He and Rose ate in awkward silence while Astoria chattered away about events from here and there.

.

Rose paced back and forth inside her room some time that afternoon. She was thinking of ways how to break it to the Malfoys that she was to go back to Hogwarts right after she just returned from her rebellious expedition. Despite her worry, she was fairly glad that Draco and Astoria didn't react so violently upon hearing her explanation, unlike how Ron responded. But of course, she could not fully blame Ron; Rose can relate to his fiery temperament, although sometimes unreasonable.

She groaned heavily and bounced unto her bed before hearing something tapping on her window. Rose jumped up and dashed towards a familiar tawny owl. No one could owl her at that time except Scorpius. She read the short note that said, _I'm coming_, and cursed afterwards. Rose crumpled the piece of parchment, threw in on her bed and rushed downstairs, her noisy feet echoing loudly.

"Sweetheart, is something wrong?" Astoria came behind her.

"Eh…"

"Miss has a visitor," Frompy Apparated near them, her nose almost touching the floor with her bow.

"Visitor?" Astoria said with delighted curiosity. "Who?"

"It might be Sophie!" Rose said in a false cheerful voice. She ran down and into the entrance corridor of the manor, but she was too late. Scorpius stood there, his hands in his pockets and hair slightly tousled, with a grin on his face after seeing Rose. Right before the visitor, with his back turned towards Rose, was Draco Malfoy, his arms crossed like how a father crosses his arms when meeting a boy who has some kind of connection with his daughter (and it doesn't matter whether this connection is platonic or non-platonic).

Draco turned around when he noticed that Scorpius was looking at something behind him. "I didn't know your friend was visiting."

Rose stammered unhelpfully. She looked at Scorpius.

"Please, sir," Scorpius said. "I was just meaning to give Rose something."

"Can I talk to him?" Rose entreated Draco.

"You _may_," he replied with a hint of correcting her grammar.

Rose paused, expecting Draco to begin walking away. But he didn't. "Alone?" she said nervously.

Draco seemed unbending at first, but then he sighed and went away. When she was sure that Draco was out of earshot, she turned to Scorpius and charged at him. "You show up here as if we're not in enough trouble already!"

"I was really going to return something to you!" Scorpius defended. He thrust a small thing in her hands and smirked.

"You really love getting me in trouble!" Rose hissed after finding out that it was just a tube of lipgloss. "This is ridiculous."

"How did it go? Were they mad at you?"

"No, it was comparatively pleasant with Dad," Rose remarked, remembering Ron's scary but expected reaction. "Your dad baked a chocolate and banana cake. It was supposed to be my favorite, but I don't get it. It tastes appalling. Chocolate and banana, seriously…"

Scorpius smiled. "It's actually my favorite. I used to call it Banocolate cake. Mind you, that's special; he hasn't baked that cake for a long time. He probably missed little Rosie Malfoy so much!" He ruffled her hair.

Rose shoved him away and scowled.

"Any luck with the Hogwarts thing yet?" Scorpius asked after getting over his little joke. "The in cognito plan was a success; asking permission to be off to Hogwarts is bound to be easy. Or maybe you could pull off another sneaking scheme."

"I was about to tell them when I received your owl. What made you go here anyway? Didn't you notice your father—"

"Yeah, I've never seen him give anyone a murderous glare like that," he said, amused. "He can be very protective sometimes. I decided to pay you yet another visit to see if you're ready to go, but I see that—"

"You want to go together with me?"

"Yeah, I guess the Knight Bus has us for its most loyal customer."

Rose pressed her lips so that she could not smile so wide.

"Dear me," someone said gently. Rose and Scorpius turned their heads and saw Astoria Malfoy with Frompy. "Oh, I was sure you were the visitor. Good afternoon, Scorpius."

"Good afternoon to you as well, Mrs. Malfoy," he replied politely.

"Such a delight," Astoria said sweetly. "You must do me a favor and join Rose and me for tea. There are slices of chocolate and banana cake left. It's Rose's favorite. She used to call it Banocolate cake."

"What a coincidence," Scorpius said knowingly. "It is my favorite too."

"Ooh! Come now! Rose, please lead your friend to our parlour. Frompy, can you please bring in the tea set? Thank you. I'll just go to Draco. I'll be with you in a moment."

"Merlin," Rose breathed as they started walking upstairs. "Where's the parlour?"

"I guess I'll be leading then," Scorpius chuckled.

"If your mother asks you why I went with you, tell her I was having some trouble with Shawn—"

"Nice, you finally found a good use for that prat, a dirty excuse—"

"Yes, and you're free to make up whatever you want. B_ut_…anything fictionally intimate is forbidden."

"_Fictionally_ _intimate_," Scorpius muttered to himself with entertainment.

When they have arrived in the parlour, Frompy was already pouring the hot tea on three tea cups. Rose let out a sigh of relief; it appears that Draco would not be joining them. That would just have made everything more uncomfortable. Rose took a seat on the sofa, looking skittish, while Scorpius took a seat beside her. He was watching her closely and smirking. Rose shot him a look. After some few more moments, Astoria came in and sat on the armchair opposite them.

"Scorpius, delighted to be meeting you like this at last," she said with a flourish.

"Why did I agree to this?" Rose mumbled.

"You did not. You actually have no choice, dear. I just really wanted to get to know this friend who abducted my daughter. Of course, I'm just kidding Scorpius." Her merry little laugh twinkled. "Tell me about how you're doing in school, Scorpius? I heard you and Rose are participating in an academic battle. Who's winning?"

"I hope I am," Scorpius answered. "But as a gentleman, I'd gladly let her off to a few advantages."

Rose scoffed at him. She then stood up.

"Where are you going, cuddles?"

"To the loo, mother."

"Don't take too long…"

Rose hurried off anywhere but there. She didn't understand how she could be so embarrassed. Technically, Astoria was not her mother, and technically, Scorpius was not some kind of suitor. Therefore, the situation should not make her feel embarrassed whatsoever. It's just that the typical sapy scene of a mother meeting her daughter's would-be emotional partner resembled what was happening in the parlour.

Rose did not notice that she passed by the corridor where Draco was; he was perusing the paintings on the wall for the sake of doing something.

"Rose," he called.

Rose gulped and came near him. "Yes?"

"Why is…your _friend_ here?"

"Er…he returned someth—"

"We all know that's not it." Draco crossed his arm again, looking authoritative, and inclined his head to the side as he waited for Rose to tell the truth. But Rose merely looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

"If that kid is bothering you—"

"No, please, he's not."

"Then why—"

"I asked him to go here because I need help—" Rose stopped talking after realizing she was yet again inventing excuses.

"Need help with what?" Draco was becoming impatient. "What could possibly this new friend of yours possess that you keep asking for his help?"

Rose distorted her face as she felt herself flush.

"I have to be honest with you: I really am glad that you are on good terms with Scorpius. Finally, my lectures on morals and open-mindedness took effect on you. But, Rose, please, I do not want you rushing in things you thought about within a little amount of time. I don't like playing games when it comes to serious matters, Rose. Yes, this is serious. My daughter just disappeared for two nights with the company of a boy. Do you want me to tell you what's been going through my mind?"

"You don't have to think about insane things."

"I can't help it. You're still not telling me everything."

Rose exhaled and decided to tell him now before anything else. "I—I wish to—go back to Hogwarts as soon as possible."

Draco blinked.

"I'm asking for permission."

"What does Scorpius have to do with anything?" Draco asked darkly.

Rose groaned in defeat. She knew Draco would not let her go now that Scorpius was obviously involved. Scorpius had something to do with _everything_.

"Before you jump on conclusions, I have to tell you that we're not doing anything wrong and he's not forcing me, alright? I—I asked him to be…b—be here. He's going back to Hogwarts too, but only if I'm going. There's nothing going on, well there is, but nothing like whatever you're thinking because you're probably thinking that something _is_ going on _between_ us. Something is going on but _not_ between us. I can't tell you what's happening, but I probably will sometime soon. It's nothing illegal or—or non-platonic, it's just too complicated to be explained right now—"

"I believe you."

"Please, nothi—huh?"

Draco uncrossed his arms and nodded.

"Oh," Rose was taken aback. She thought she was going to put up a hard fight. "That—that means I can go? To Hogwarts? Now?"

"Yes."

"But I won't get to spend Christmas with you?"

Draco smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder. "You wouldn't be making this fuss if what you wanted to do was important. Just let me remind you of a few things. Your mother and I trust you, and I beg that you do not betray that trust. Trust is important. No successful relationship can exist without it. And Rose…trust yourself; that's very important too."

Rose never imagined she would see Draco as a fatherly figure. She always thought that he was only pulling an act, but he really was changed. She felt ashamed for thinking of him and his family vile before.

"Thanks," she said with a sincere smile. Draco patted her shoulder. Rose couldn't help it; she hugged Draco like how she wanted to hug her own father.

"I suggest you pack," Draco said kindly.

Rose said her thanks again and ended her embrace. She was still smiling when she was about to go to her room, but Draco called her attention once again.

"I feel like I should give you our Christmas present first," he said.

In the parlour meanwhile, Scorpius was enjoying his environment. He was eating his favorite cake and having tea and conversing with his mother, only, Astoria acknowledged him as her "daughter's special friend" rather than her own flesh and blood. It was curious that he did not find his and Rose's plight an utter doom; he merely took it as a transitional predicament, something that would introduce him to a new possibility, something that was not bound to be permanent. He knew and was quite sure of it that sooner or later, the solution would be before their eyes and everything would return to normal. Truth be told, he only wanted to find the solution in haste because Rose was evidently upset about it. It was not the kind of upset he had fun teasing her about; it really, _really_ made Rose distraught (Rose was always negative, and he found reason to blame her for that).

Yes, he missed his family. Yes, he missed his life. And yes, he missed his blonde hair. But Rose made him forgot all about that. She finally learned to trust him. There were still moments were they bickered, but trust was now in existence inside the world they created for their own. That was satisfyingly enough for him.

"How did you to come to be friends at last?" Astoria said after sipping from her chamomile tea.

Scorpius thought quickly and said, "It was that day in Diagon Alley, when she was trying out for dresses in that boutique. I came in when I saw her trying to choose between a green dress and a purple one. Then we just talked—"

"But I was in there, in the boutique."

"I think you were at some decorum shop? Rose told me, I think."

"Oh, that makes sense…Remember, you smiled and called Rose on the way?" Astoria placed down her cup and reached for a muffin. "So, what are your plans for the remaining days of the holidays?"

"I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"So soon? Oh, what do your parents think of it?"

"They were…well, it was alright," Scorpius' ears turned scarlet. He remembered every word of his discussion with Ron back at the study.

"Well, I hope you have fun. Oh, what's taking Rose so long! Excuse my daughter. She must be feeling uncomfortable—"

"Did she get in trouble because of me? I was only trying to help. Things between her and Shawn are messed up—of course I don't know the details!"

Astoria laughed. "No, no, dear. She's not in any trouble. I _am _gladshe was with you, though. I don't know, but there's something about you that I see is compatible with Rose. Oh, forgive me. I'm being a meddling mother again! But, really, I have always though you and Rose have something in common. I thought it was a shame for you two to have been in constant fights all these years. I'm really happy for you that you have finally reconciled."

His mother had not really changed. Astoria had always told Scorpius before the switch that Rose is a "delightful and intelligent child", that she would "make a very nice and stimulating companion", that their arguments were "a waste of intellect and emotions" and that their flamboyant emotions should be used to "perform and display mutual affections for each other". (Astoria probably knew so much about Rose and her previous not-so-pleasant relationship with Scorpius because the latter can't seem to contain his stories when he is with his mother. But then again, no one can ever contain their stories when talking to Astoria. You see, she has this certain effortless charm that can make you feel uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time.)

"I'm glad too," was Scorpius' delayed but genuine reply, which was an understatement. He was more than glad.

Draco then entered in the parlour. He bent to reach a blueberry muffin on the table as Astoria greeted him.

"Do you want your own tea cup, Draco? I didn't know you wanted to join us."

"No, it's fine. I just went here to deliver news," he replied to his wife, but his eyes were meaningfully staring at Scorpius.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Malfoy?" Scorpius said, fearing that Rose have asked him permission to go back to Hogwarts for the rest of the holiday and received a no for an answer.

To his surprise, Draco smiled at him. "I don't know what you two are up to," he said in a slightly joking manner. "But if _something_ _wrong _happened to Rose—"

"Sir, I was—"

"Astoria, I just received an owl from the agency. I'll be back before dinner."

"Is that the news?" Astoria asked.

"No. My news is that Rose would not be having dinner with us as I allowed her to go to Hogwarts before Christmas. I'm sorry for not deliberating it with you, but I know you'll understand."

Astoria stared from Draco to Scorpius, then back to his husband and then to Scorpius again. Then a sly smile appeared on her face. "Well, I guess it's not up to me anymore."

"I'll take out our dinner, is that alright, Astoria?"

"Sure," she said, straightening her dress, still a smile playing on her lips.

"Bye," Draco said, stooping down to kiss Astoria on the forehead. He then stood in front of Scorpius. The quasi-Weasley stood up in courtesy and shook Draco's extended hand. "Don't do anything that will make me regret trusting you. Yes, I do trust you," Draco added after seeing Scorpius' skepticism.

Grabbing another muffin, he left the room.

When Astoria and Scorpius were all alone in the parlour again, Astoria cleared her throat to call attention. "I knew you're here for Rose," she said cheerfully. "I thought that probably you're going to ask her out or something—"

"I—"

"Scorpius, you're lucky my husband likes you. I like you too. I know a normal mother should probably feel ill towards the boy who made off away from home with her daughter, but, oh Scorpius, I know you're special to Rose. I can see it. I can never understand why she loathed you before, but maybe it was just to conceal that she felt that you're agreeable to her—" Scorpius snorted at the word _agreeable_. "Ever since she went home for the break, I can see that she's unhappy. I deduced it is because of Shawn. And then she told us that she's having trouble with him and you helped her. You comforted her. Thank you. You know, it's quite alright that she would not be able to spend Christmas with us, but you take care of her, Scorpius. I know you make her happy. Be a true friend to her."

"I will," Scorpius said sincerely.

"Now, I guess Rose must be packing, that's why it's taking her so long. I'll help her and then you two can head off."

Scorpius watched her leave, a grin forming on his face. He can't believe it. Draco and Astoria actually trust him. They trust him to be alone with Rose! Has the world gone mad? No. He knew his parents. They really had a good sense whom to trust. He punched the empty seat beside him on the sofa out of pure joy.

Fifteen minutes have already passed when Astoria came down, levitating Rose's trunks. Rose rushed into the parlour, her face ecstatic, to tell Scorpius how happy she was to return to Hogwarts. But she gradually let go of her thrill as she became pensive.

"Your father's really nice," she said placidly.

"Always have." Scorpius shrugged. "Just misunderstood."

"Hey," Rose said weakly. "I'm sorry for thinking badly of your folks. And you. I was stupid. Your family's just like mine. I just failed to see it. But now I know."

"I thought you'd never do," Scorpius joked. "Now, come on, I left my luggage with Chester, you know, the Knight Bus conductor. I told him we'll be needing the bus' service again."

"Alright." Scorpius led the way, heading out of the parlour, but Rose grabbed his arm and made him stay.

"Wait, I have to give you something," she said meekly. She handed him a golden pouch filled with something that felt like fine sand. "That was supposed to be your parents' Christmas gift to me. That thing is very special. Not entirely practical, but it's very nice and I'd love to use it. But I know you should have it. I mean, I already got my Christmas present, after all, you gave it to me—"

"The lipgloss?" Scorpius chortled.

"No," Rose smirked, and then looked grateful and smiled warmly. "You let me stay at home and be with my family. The situation was not really ideal, but I got to see them. And you were there, so thank you. You could've just left me alone or something but you didn't. You helped me."

Scorpius returned the smile. He opened the pouch and peered inside. It contained golden sand that faintly glittered. He knew what it was, but listened all the same as Rose explained.

"It's the Sand of the Golden Thought. You're supposed to flick a pinch or two of it to a fire and the memory or dream you've chosen will dance on the flames. I know, it's gushy and sentimental, but it's really beautiful to watch. Did you know that it was discovered a year before Floo Powder was first used?"

"Thanks," he said, genuinely appreciating her. "You sure you don't want this?"

Rose nodded. They both stood there in silence. It was not awkward or anything. It was just as if they were waiting for something to happen. After a few moments, however, Rose made it happen.

"Er, I better do this before I change my mind."

Rose stepped forward and encircled her arms around Scorpius' midriff, her cheek resting on his chest. Then she stood on her tiptoes so that her mouth was near his ear and said in a hushed tone, "Thank you. And Merry Christmas."

Scorpous grinned and embraced her too. "Christmas is tomorrow."

"I might hate you again tomorrow."

"That wouldn't happen, I'm sure," he murmured. "Merry Christmas too. And thank you also."

Rose sniffed and stepped back. "Alright, I thought it would be awkward, but it wasn't. Let's go."

She went first, a light bounce was apparent in her steps. Scorpius pocketed the pouch of the magical sand. He threw his head back, closed his eyes and exhaled happily.

"_Yes_."

* * *

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._

_This chapter was supposed to be a scene only. Rose was just supposed to talk to Draco and Astoria about her going back to Hogwarts and Draco trusting her and giving her their present and then Rose and Scorpius were to meet in the Knight Bus and then that's it. But then this happened. So...that's it. Ps.S.: I couldn't think about some cool little sentimental present with magical abilities, so the "Sand of Golden Thought" happened. It's kind of corny but I wish it were real._


	14. Theoretical World

_First of all, kemosabes, the firetrucking nvaigation menu in my log-in page wasn't working for like a whole damn month so yeah...I could not upload a single thing. I was in agony. Thanks for waiting...especially to _Alijandra's Editor_. Man, this one's a big-time! Man, I hope you haven't changed your mind about Scorose!_

_Power on!_

_Chapter 14_

* * *

You could imagine the surprise that Headmistress McGonagall had upon seeing Rose Malfoy and Scorpius Weasley getting off at the Hogsmeade bus stop of the Knight Bus. Together. Laughing with each other. With Scorpius helping Rose with her bags. Their life-time battle was a prevalent knowledge in school grounds, especially to those who know them; so really, you could imagine how Professor McGonagall found all this strange. Really.

In her most headmistress manner, the professor marched up to the two, who were laughing gleefully probably at a joke one of them made. She cleared her throat to get their attention, and immediately, Rose and Scorpius stopped their chuckles.

"Well, good afternoon Mr. Weasley and Miss Malfoy," she said kindly with a hint of curiosity. Scorpius and Rose greeted her back rather carefully. "I never expected that—well—that you two—"

"Would be back so soon?" Scorpius finished. "Er, well…yeah…it was kind of impromptu." Which, of course, we all know is not true.

"We met on the bus on our way here," Rose explained without further being questioned. It was her very Slytherin-like principle that lying, or at least for a better terminology, bending the truth, is better done before one is asked about the matter.

"I see." Professor McGonagall pushed her glasses up her nose bridge and joined her hands authoritatively. "I hope you two are not in some kind of trouble whatsoever. But you two seem to be going along pretty well."

"Yes, professor," Scorpius grinned as he gently dropped Rose's luggage on the ground and put his arm around her shoulders like they were the best of pals. "Christmas spirit in the air and we're inhaling it."

Scorpius squeezed Rose's shoulders, crushing her body against his side, to which Rose responded with a profuse coloration of the cheeks; it had nothing to do with the cold, however, and McGonagall was deducing it too.

"Well, I'm glad about it. Both of you are unquestionably more than welcome to join the staff's Christmas Eve dinner tonight. A few students who have stayed here for the holidays are going too, of course, so you need not think and feel awkward of joining in the festivities of old souls like us, your teachers. Now you two, off to the castle; even the head of an institution needs to go for a last-minute Christmas shopping."

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other strangely as McGonagall left.

"It was nice running in to you accidentally on the bus," Scorpius remarked.

"I, for one, definitely was not expecting you, of all people," Rose rode on. "It must be the Christmas spirit."

It definitely was strange, looking back to how they were before and comparing to how they are now. To think that they are now able to share jokes and laugh with each other delightfully, seeing that Christmases ago, the only things they have exchanged were jinxes and spiteful comments, is very very strange indeed, yet highly pleasant to both parties. Only did they separate when they got in their respective common rooms. It appeared that two second years, three fourth years and a fifth year from Slytherin stayed for the winter break. In Gryffindor, however, a group of third year boys are the only ones who remained. So, Rose and Scorpius were not much bothered nor isolated in the quiet walls of Hogwarts.

After Scorpius had finished fixing his things and writing a short letter to the Weasleys (on Hermione's matriarchal orders, of course) to tell them that he was alright, he went down to the dungeons for Rose. He groped his pockets and felt that the pouch of the Golden Sand of Thought was still there, along with some recently shoved scraps of parchment he used to wipe off the spilled ink when he was writing his letter's postscript, which was solely intended for Ron's knowledge. Strictly and solely for Ron only.

He arrived in front of the fancy black double doors of the Slytherin common room. A fourth year came out and he asked whether Rose was inside. Rose immediately emerged from inside the common room.

"There she is," the fourth year boy said dully and went away to do whatever business he intended to do.

"I heard my name," Rose explained. "What's up?"

"Erm," Scorpius began, obliviously running his hand through his hair. "I just wondered whether you wanted to go to the library or something, since there isn't much to do right now."

Rose smiled as bright as the sun. "Sure," she said.

The Christmas Eve dinner of the Hogwarts staff that night was very much prying. Prying in the sense that all the teachers seemed to want to know why they both decided to return to Hogwarts right before Christmas and right at the same time. Of course, they dared not tell them. Rose and Scorpius were sure that they didn't want to let anyone from Hogwarts know Rose's little escapade with Scorpius that caused much anxiety for the Malfoys and terrible awkwardness for the Weasleys; it would only cause much stirring. All the while throughout the dinner, Scorpius kept glancing at Rose nervously, as if he was contemplating of doing something unimaginable. But seeing her smile like that, that smile of content and comfort under the familiarity and protection of Hogwarts which they can call home, eased his restless heart.

That night, before going to bed, Scorpius wrote yet another letter, but this time, it was sent privately to Ron only. He was so angry with himself and so lost that the only thing he could do was to seek comforting words to the person he used to least expect to give him support, even in the dead of the night. Before he could even wait for Ron's reply, however, he fell asleep.

Next morning, Scorpius woke up and sat bolt upright, remembering that last night (or at least hours ago, two o'clock in the morning), he wrote to Ron and forgot to receive his answer. He peered at the window to see if there was an owl waiting to be let in, but was not at all surprised to see that there was none, since if there were an owl, it would have been turned into a feathery popsicle due to the cold. It was already ten in the morning; Scorpius found out after peering in the room's wall clock. He got up unceremoniously, feeling fractious, then noticed a pile of presents on the floor at the foot of his bed. He opened the wrappings and received his first ever Weasley Christmas presents. There was the notorious Weasley jumper, a dark green one with the letter S on the front, which was from Grandmum Weasley, an Irish lexicon from Granddad Weasley (with a quick note from Albus that said he insisted their granddad to give it to him instead of a rubber duck that quacks Irish words when you squeeze it, "I mean, you're not exactly a five-year-old rubber duckie aficionado, now, are you?" the last bit of the note said), a snow globe from Lily, a broomstick handle polisher from Albus (he wrote in the note that he was broke and it was all that he could afford at the moment), a green minty leaf that Fred and James gave (which had no explanation whatsoever about what it was so Scorpius merely assumed it was a bookmark), the latest Quidditch magazine from Hugo with a large poster of the Chuddley Canons (Scorpius was kind of surprised that he even thought of giving him a gift due to the fact that he brought a Malfoy in the Weasley premises the last time Hugo and Scorpius met) and a fruitcake from Hermione, which tasted fairly good now according to Hermione's note. There were other little gifts from his uncles, aunts, cousins, and even from his Granny and Grampy Granger, but the one that he snatched up immediately was Ron's gift.

Well, it wasn't exactly a gift, but a message, which was what Scorpius anticipated the most.

_Scorpius,_

_ Before anything else, I helped your mum with the fruitcake (that's why it tastes good this time, because I was paying attention when you were teaching her to make it edible) so technically, you could count that as my gift. Your mother just didn't want to let you know so she wrote only her name on the fruitcake parcel. Your mother's got pride, after all. Anyway, I received your owl last night; I just got home from the Ministry then (bloody paperworks). Don't worry yourself too much, son. Things like that can't be rushed. I have proven that. Ask your mother. No, really, I was an idiot and it took me a long time to be brave enough and face all that. But that was years ago and we should not let that bother us right now, except whenever your mum is experiencing PMS, since during that time, she loves hearing me tell her again and again of the story how we came to be, you know. I'm just telling you to wait for the right time. Do not get frustrated when you plan something out and then it doesn't happen. Sometimes it's best if it doesn't. There'd be a moment when it would just happen and everything would be fine. More than fine; it would be perfect. Sometimes what happened accidentally is far more wonderful than what you have planned out. So don't rush, but don't slack off either. The best ones out there should be the most coveted, so it means you have to keep a vigilant eye out too. Just do what you know is right and wise. I only want your happiness, Scorpius. No matter what happens, always know that I would be with you, especially when you need help. And I'm sorry again for acting unfriendly towards your friend when she was staying here. If only I had known and understood before…You know, I genuinely came to realize that she is a wonderful person, and please excuse your old man for being an idiot._

_ Merry Christmas, son. Stay safe and eat your vegetables. And the fruitcake. I helped bake it. Baking with someone is such an effective bonding experience, even romantic, I discovered. Seriously. Merry Christmas again and I love you, son._

_ Your Dad_

_PS: I've told your mother not to put raisins because I know you don't like them but she insisted. I guess you could pick it out if you really don't want to eat them._

_PPS: The poster of the Chudley Cannons that Hugo gave you along with the magazine was bought with my money. Just saying. That could be a present from me too!_

_Have a happy Christmas!_

Scorpius laughed. Ron Weasley was more in touch of his feelings than he thought. Even so, he took his words and remembered them. His advice was simple, yet it made all the difference with how he felt. He should not rush. He should not worry. And he concluded that if it was bound to happen, it will. Maybe he only needed to give it a little push here and there.

He knew exactly at that moment that he can do it. Although, he did not know _when_ he can do it.

.

Their Christmas was peacefully spent: Rose and Scorpius, as expected, spent it together. They met in the Great Hall for brunch, where a long table for the students who remained and the staff replaced the four House tables, just like last night. After their meal, the two of them spent their time playing chess under the beech tree on the lakeside; the wizard chess was a gift from Grandmother Greengrass. Eventually, they got to the subject of their Christmas presents, which Scorpius was sort of hoping not to come up because he was afraid that Rose would get sad about not having been given gifts from her relatives.

"No, it's fine," Rose said after interpreting Scorpius' silence. "I'm…I'm happy, kind of. This is fine, really. Come on, I just want to know what sort of hippy things everyone's given you."

She seemed to smile genuinely so he replied, "Well, your granddad gave me an Irish lexicon."

"_Aw!_" Rose's knight just got pummeled by Scorpius' king-side castle. "I didn't see my knight's in trouble. Yeah, granddad hinted last year that he saw this Irish-quacking rubber duck and said it would be perfect in my room because it was educational, well at least linguistically. Good thing he got the lexicon instead. What else? Did you get a jumper?"

"Ye…_yeah_…" Scorpius anticipated Rose's reaction. However, she just got quiet, in a pleasant way, and he was grateful. "It was green."

"Yeah, I used to get green too," Rose said pensively. "Only, I wanted maroon, just like dad's, but I guess Grandmum thinks green is my color. Your turn."

Scorpius carelessly commanded his queen to move and watched Rose's face.

"What did mum give you?"

"A fruitcake."

"Oh no…"

"No, it's okay, I taught her how to make a decent fruitcake. Oh wait, I haven't unwrapped it yet." He waved his wand and _Accio_-ed the cake, which zoomed in after a few seconds on his lap.

"You should probably have it," Rose said. "You let me eat your piece when we were at the pond, remember?"

"You're just scared that your mum's fruitcake would not be fit for human consumption. Don't worry; your dad actually helped her with this one. Here, you take half of it; I'll eat the other half."

Rose smiled after swallowing her first bite. "This is way improved. Your fruitcake is better, though. You could keep teaching my parents with the baking thing. That would be convenient."

"Sure, I think your dad's a fast-learner when it comes to the kitchen."

Rose took another bite, savouring the flavour of the cake. "How 'bout dad? What did he give you?"

Scorpius almost told her that it was just a letter but he stopped himself before doing so. He knew that Rose would be very interested with it and would insist on reading it, so he just told her that it was a Chudley Cannons poster.

"Typical," Rose shook her head. "Dad: a cheap Chudley Cannons fan for life. Everything in my life changes except for my father's price and Quidditch team preferences."

"He told me he was sorry…for acting erm, not nice to you."

"It was fine. He came around in the end."

Rose asked some more about Scorpius' presents, and gave her comment after each one. Contrary to Scorpius' belief, it appeared that Rose was actually enjoying what they were doing. She was able to joke around with her cousins' gifts to him.

"But James and Fred wouldn't be so sensitive and simple to even think of handing out bookmarks as Christmas presents," Rose snorted after hearing about the next generation pranksters after Fred and George Weasley. "I warn you, there's something prominently humiliating about that gift. Be careful; a leaf might seem harmless, but you never know…"

It took them a matter of silent seconds before they realized that they've stopped playing chess, and the chess pieces were grousing that it was taking the players so long to move them around.

Rose moved her remaining bishop and it crushed her opponent's queen. Scorpius cursed bitterly and then ordered his knight to stab mercilessly Rose's bishop to avenge his queen. The knight thrust its sword heavenward and screamed with its little voice the bloodlust that was overwhelming him.

"You are certainly no gentleman in wizard's chess," Rose said as she helped her limping bishop off of the chessboard, right next to a pawn whose both arms were tragically amputated.

Scorpius chuckled and shrugged. "So, did Great Aunt Priscilla give you something? I got a pack of condoms last Christmas."

Rose distorted her face into a frown. "Did you use it?"

"Merlin, no, I gave it to Byron. So what did Aunt give you?"

"I don't know how it got past Hogwart's security; Aunt Priscilla gave me two bottles of Firewhiskey."

"Awesome!"

"I surrendered them to McGonagall, idiot."

"I was only kidding," Scorpius said. "And checkmate."

After Rose's king slouched and sighed at his downfall, Scorpius' knight screamed again, this time, in triumph.

"But seriously," Rose sighed. "That leaf is a funny business. Dispose of it as soon as possible."

.

The days have passed and students have been gradually returning to Hogwarts from their vacations. Since the term is going to start soon, the Heads of Houses and the Headmistress have been giving assignments to the Prefects, so Rose and Scorpius have been busy. Some have been assigned to help Madam Pince with the labeling of accession numbers on new books, others have been given the duty to put away the Christmas decorations in the classrooms (after a program about helping house-elves during the Christmas season in Hogwarts had been launched a few years ago) and a few fortunate ones have been only given the usual jobs of patrolling the corridors, though with extra rounds schedule. To Scorpius' dissatisfaction, he had been placed in the duty of patrolling in extra hours while Rose was with Madam Pince, along with a couple of other Prefects, arranging and labeling books. The two students have rarely seen each other for the next few days, except during mealtimes. Maybe time took its toll after it let Scorpius and Rose spend so much time together.

Scorpius was getting impatient and frustrated; he had the most perfect opportunities before students started coming back and crowding Hogwarts once again, but he let them slip. There would be moments when Rose fell silent, as if she were inviting him to say something to her, perhaps a well-hidden secret, a confession anticipated to happen, but seconds passed unmercifully, and either a strolling student, Mrs. Norris' annoying mew or the creaking of a window's hinges due to a winter breeze would disrupt that untold invitation and make Rose scoff and say, "We always end up doing spur-of-the-moment staring contests." Or perhaps, she'd get a slight blush and look away and mumble something and then just go back to the Slytherin dungeons. Sometimes she'd wear this peculiar face, like she remembered or realized something, and then she'd return her nose on her book without another word. Scorpius always ended up crestfallen after each instant. Well, he brought it upon himself, so he was to blame for all that.

One day, however, when everyone was back and the term has officially started, Scorpius finally found the incentive to do what he has to do. It was after their last period on Tuesday, when Scorpius spotted Rose going to what he suspected as the library and caught up with her.

"Only the second day back and we're loaded with homework," he commented, hoping that Rose was in for a conversation despite the workload.

"Ugh," Rose snorted mirthlessly. "That and Prefect duty. You know, I miss doing rounds. I mean, I love books and all, but Pince is a menace. Oh, but there were so many books! You should've seen all those. Who knew that the board of governors had given the school more books during the Christmas break? And not just reference or history books, but they actually have a Muggle section now! I'm talking about Muggle novels!"

"That's great," Scorpius said, being dragged along by the current of Rose's excitement.

"They're not allowed to be borrowed until all the books have been given accession numbers, though, so I'm working extra hard. I have my eye on that Oscar Wilde novel. Have you heard of _The Picture of Dorian Grey_?"

"Was it that bloke who was young forever but his portrait was getting old and ugly and stuff?"

"Yeah, because of his old age and his sins." Rose paused before opening a new topic. "Have you seen Hugo yet?"

Scorpius almost forgot about that. He placed his hands on his pockets and thought of what to say. He didn't want to talk about Hugo; the day when he came back to Hogwarts, Scorpius approached him to have a word but Hugo declined his approach rather rudely. The young Weasley still was not able to forgive Scorpius for ditching out from the family trip and bringing Malfoy in their house. Scorpius merely told him he was being immature about it and that their parents were already fine with it. Hugo, on the other hand, was able to bring on some reinforcement in the form of their cousins. Albus, though not as violent as Hugo, only shot Scorpius disgusting looks. The others' attitudes were as terrible as Hugo's though. Apparently, as they were on their way back to Hogwarts, Hugo told every cousin about their holiday mishap.

"Basically, I'm public enemy number two to your cousins," Scorpius said, carefully not going over excruciating details.

"And I'm public enemy number one?" Rose said, trying hard to hide her hurt voice.

Scorpius cleared his throat and stirred to a new but inevitably relevant subject. "How about Miss Malfoy's Slytherin posse?"

"Oh Merlin…" Rose closed her eyes and passed her palm on her face. "I have no idea whether I find it amusing or irritating."

"What is it?"

Rose looked embarrassed, but told Scorpius all the same. "Well, I first saw Amara and Sophie. They were a little pissed that I didn't write to them during the break. And also because they haven't received invites from the invitation-only Malfoy Soirée. Turned out they were bombarding me with owls, but I remembered telling Frompy that I don't want to receive any letters from Sophie or Amara, so whatever. They also heard about my disappearance from the night of the party. They wanted to know who I was with. Or at least, Amara told ma all those things. Sophie was kind of weird. The only time she spoke to me was when she greeted me and hugged and kissed me welcome. Eugh. And also when she commented how cute my shoes were, which doesn't really count because I think she was only faking that."

"That sucks."

"I haven't told you the best part yet: Shawn."

Maybe it was only Rose's imagination, but she swore she had seen a shadow pass over Scorpius' face. She continued quickly, "So, he saw me, or rather, I saw him and he sort of looked panicky or whatever but he smiled and started to be all grabby, which is disgusting, so I pushed him away, told him I developed this mild rash over the holidays and physical contact triggered it, though it was already healinh. He was talking to Sophie then, and when she saw me she said in this sweet fake voice that she was going to the loo and when she was gone, Shawn asked me all these questions, about you know, my being away and stuff. Of course I didn't tell them about you. It caused enough trouble with Hugo, I don't want to…create more chaos. Whatever."

Scorpius only kept walking beside Rose, on the way towards the library. When they have finally arrived, Madam Pince called Rose's attention and told her that there were only four three-foot stack of books assigned to her and after that, she could go back with the patrolling duty. Rose cheerfully took a seat and Scorpius sat beside her. He opened a book he randomly grabbed from the shelf nearest them and pretended to pour himself over it. But there was a constant ringing in his ears that prevented him to understand the sentence he was reading over and over again: Shawn.

Why didn't Rose want to tell Shawn that she was with _him_? Why did she have to keep it a secret from Shawn while every other Weasley and Potter seem to know it, resulting to occasional venomous glances shot to them both? The cousins seem to think it immoral for Scorpius to spend almost two nights alone with a Malfoy, then maybe Shawn, Rose's quasi-boyfriend, would reckon it be savagely unacceptable that Rose was with him sans adult supervision (or any kind of supervision, for that matter). Right? Then, as stupid as Scorpius can surprisingly be, it hit him: Rose must care about her relationship with Shawn if she did not tell him about her pre-Christmas stowing away. Why else would she want to keep her very close contact to Scorpius secret from Shawn? Maybe Rose really still feels something for Shawn. That must be it.

"Hey, are you alright?" Rose asked him.

He realized that he had crumpled the corner of the page he was reading on. Scorpius immediately straightened the paper and composed himself. "Yeah, fine." And no, he was not jealous.

"Okay." Rose said, although she did not sound convince.

"You know," she said quietly after a moment's pause. "For the first time, I think I don't like that I'm here in Hogwarts."

"Meaning?" Scorpius managed to keep the coldness out from his voice.

"I thought that going here and leaving everything behind, family, house, all the lot, would make me feel at home again, normal. But now that everyone's back, things began to feel strange again. Like I'm some kind of alien. An outcast. Even though I really am not, at least in others' eyes. But in my family's eyes, I am. And it makes me just want to escape again. Leave. Go somewhere I know would be safe and secure, like, I don't know, maybe the world before this stupid enchantment happened. Sorry for taking all this out on you."

"It's alright," Scorpius couldn't help but tell her warmly. Rose smiled and looked at him. He realized that he was making her smile most often. She was just sitting inches away from him, their elbows touching…

"Did you hear that?" Rose frowned as her eyes flew behind some shelves.

"What?"

"Someone's groaning?"

Rose stood on her feet. Scorpius sighed heavily; he let another opportunity pass. He stood up as well and joined Rose creep up behind a bookshelf. He peered just as she peered and together they saw a scene they least expected to see: Sophie and Shawn kissing vehemently.

Rose's mouth slowly shaped in a perfect _O_ as she and Scorpius watched the other two sucking faces. Scorpius looked at Rose, not even caring if he was staring at her noticeably, and got ready to put his arm around a heartbroken Rose if she needed it. But she only shook her head and smiled humorlessly.

"Can't say I didn't see it coming," she shrugged, still watching Sophie and Shawn.

"What?"

"Sophie, Amara, Shawn, all of them would not take one glance at Rose Weasley even if my Prefect badge shone the brightest or my hair resembled a jungle after double Potions. Okay, maybe they would, just to ridicule how absurd I look, probably. But I'm not sorry for that. Sophie and Amara aren't really my ideal friends. They have no substance, so as to speak. Shawn…I thought, well, I thought he was different. How naïve was I, really? I seriously now think that he is incapable of realizing anything deep and true.

"I knew they'd do something behind my back one day, though I don't find it able to hurt me, since I'm not foolish enough to trust them just because they're the cool people. Your dad clearly emphasized how trust is important, by the way. I knew they were only friends with Rose Malfoy because she is a self-absorbed, controlling and prejudiced person. She's like that not because she is a Malfoy, but because she chose to be that way. Now I know I'm not Rose Malfoy, because if such person existed, I would be the polar opposite. Yeah, I can be prejudice, and I let that attitude come in between you and me, but Rose Malfoy, as I have learned from her little faults witnessed by the people around her, let her prejudice rule over her. She became a vile person, someone Draco Malfoy tried to avoid bringing up. Imagine, Rose Malfoy hated every single one of the Potters and the Weasleys, seriously."

She sighed and stopped watching Sophie and Shawn, who were sticking their tongues in each other's throats. Rose turned around so she could lean her back against the bookshelf, with her hands behind her. Scorpius still watched her.

Rose dreamily gazed beyond the library, with an epiphanous smile, and continued, "I don't think I remember correctly, but you said in this same library a couple of weeks ago that who we are right now are supposed to be the counterpart of each other, except that our life situations differ from our original selves because of our attitudes and reactions? Am I correct? Like, for instance, how Scorpius Malfoy is on good terms with everyone in the youngest generation of the Potter-Weasley clan except with Rose Weasley because that's _how_ he wanted it, how _you_ wanted it. _But _Rose Malfoy abhors every one of the said clan especially Scorpius Weasley because she _chose _it that way. You get my point? I mean, you as a Malfoy, chose to be nice and all, but me as a Malfoy too, did the exact opposite."

"I follow you."

"Therefore, this is not really us, or at least what our current environment labels us is not really us…"

Scorpius kept an intent yet gentle gaze on her as she continued speaking.

"It's like we're in some kind of parallel universe…although, instead of a concurrent reality, we're in a theoretical world that tells us what would happen if I were you and you were me. This all is not true. Like Mr. Dornhill said, this is fraud and we need to find something so true and so pure that it can erase all of this. He said love can only do that. But I wonder how we can find real love in this world full of fraudulence and pretensions." Rose removed her hands behind her and wiped them on her robes as she realized they were sweaty. She straightened herself up and sat down on the table, opening her book about 6th century revolutions in the wizarding world.

Scorpius took his seat beside her and carefully said, "So, you don't really mind that your boyfriend's cheating on you?"

"Not my boyfriend," Rose shook her head. "Rose Malfoy's. But Rose Malfoy doesn't exist, so Shawn and Sophie should not really be worried about her finding out, although I guess they're not worried at all."

Scorpius grinned. "Remember when you told you that I always act like I know the answer? That night after we went to the club? You're right; I do _act_ like I know the answer, but truth is, you're fully capable of finding out the answer by yourself, even if you don't act it out."

"Wow, that's a compliment."

"But what you said is right, Rose, really," Scorpius glanced back and he could tell Sophie and Shawn are still swapping saliva. He shook his head, thinking it was mad of him to think that Rose was still crushing on that lunatic, Shawn. He looked at Rose, who seemed to be waiting for him to say something, and took her hand. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

_And you'd think that I have proofread this...NOT! Haha..._

_Well, I hope you like it. And we're reaching the end..._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	15. Confrontations and Detention

_Chapter 14_

* * *

Ron fondled with the pieces of parchment on his study table, thinking of Scorpius. The first one was a little note disguised as a private postscript attached to the first letter Scorpius sent the Weasleys after going back to Hogwarts.

_Dad. You're right. About what you said in the study room, I mean. I have to tell her. I'm just not sure how. And it probably would ruin everything. But, yeah, I have to. Thanks. For everything._

And after receiving that note, Ron expected Scorpius' next letter to be about how his efforts and plan paid off well. How happy he was and all that. But no, the next letter, sent on Christmas Eve, told him otherwise.

_Dad,_

_ I was such a damn coward. I couldn't do it. Everything seemed okay for a go at first then things change and I couldn't tell her. What should I do? This is getting ridiculous. What if I just shouldn't tell her? I think I don't even want to do it anymore._

To which Ron replied with a fatherly fervour, with all the advices he could think of. But Scorpius had not replied since then other than a message to the whole family saying that he loved the gifts and all. Ron thought of sending him a short letter, asking how his plan was going, but he refrained from doing that. The kid needs to work on it by himself. Ron can't help but wonder; Scorpius seemed to be too analytical of the situation and to be too restrained by his fears of ruining a newly formed friendship and alliance. Oh well, the kid's got to think and learn if anything goes wrong—

"Ron what's that?"

Hermione came behind her and snatched the bits of parchment from him. Ron didn't even tried to grab the messages back to preserve his son's confidentiality, but instead, let his wife read it over, wanting to hear what she has to say.

"Do what?" Hermione asked. "Her? Tell her? Who's her?"

Ron smiled, and by that smile, Hermione was able to know what exactly was going on.

.

Rose chewed on her lip anxiously. It was uncomfortable, but when the thought of wishing he should just look away crossed her mind, she realized that she actually didn't want him to look away. She was not being vain or anything of the sort; she just really likes that he's now looking at her like that, although it _does_ make her feel conscious about herself. But, anyways, it probably meant nothing, right? She looked behind her and, as she was sure, Scorpius had his eyes on her. He grinned at her with a questioning look as if to ask if he was doing anything wrong. Rose shook her head, shrugged and quietly returned her gaze on the board, where a timeline of wizarding mutinies was written, while Professor Binn's energy-draining voice droned on and on.

She felt the back of her neck prickle and squeezed her eyes shut as a shiver ran down the length of her spine. What was Scorpius even doing? Undressing her with his eyes? Yeah, that would be very ni—Rose harshly tapped her forehead with her quill, berating herself for even thinking about what she had thought about. No, that was nothing. Scorpius was nothing. They were just friends.

A playful smile slowly tugged the corner of her lips.

They _are _friends.

And in this strange world, he was her only friend. He understood her and helped her and comforted her. Never once before did she imagine that it was possible. But it happened anyway. How could she have been so blinded by prejudice? Looking back, though she felt isolated from her family, she was glad this enchantment took place; it opened her eyes towards a new friendship…towards Scorpius.

"Miss Malfoy, please get the set of questionnaires from my desk and pass one to every student," Mr. Binn's voice dragged Rose's mind back to the reality. "And as Miss Malfoy does this, everyone please clear their desk from anything save a piece of parchment, your quill and an inkwell. We shall have a surprise test. Which would be 2o percent of your grade."

A collective and indignant groan sounded inside the classroom from the students. Well, at least, from those who were awake.

After Rose has given out a questionnaire to each student (with her breath hitching as Scorpius' fingers touched her knuckles while receiving his paper), everyone started to pour over the test. Rose could have easily answered the questions if it weren't for the fact that her head thundered with everything about Scorpius; consequently, her mind was not able to wrap around her current obligation as a student, which was to answer the test. The past days were just so utterly surreal—and perfect—that she found herself not caring that her cousins looked as if their dislike of her grew ten times more. Well, of course she cared but with her time with Scorpius, she easily pushes everything at the back of her mind. Scorpius and Rose often spent their time together. Either they were in the library or under the beech tree on the lakeside playing chess. They even sometimes met during Prefect patrolling duties (after Rose finally finished recording all the accession numbers to the set of books given to her); Scorpius usually took her to the kitchens where they ate late-night snacks. And then he would walk with her back to the dungeons and they'd say their goodnights and then he'd leave.

Rose, however, realized something she was doing whenever she'd get quiet around Scorpius. She frequently gazed on him, studying him… The pretty barely-there blue flecks of his stormy grey eyes, the subtle dilation of his pupil whenever he thinks of a move in wizard chess, the way his forehead creases and his eyebrows knit together as he reads his notes, the tip of his nose and how it gets an adorable shade of pink when a cool breeze whips his face, the way his red hair dances with the said breeze… And then her eyes reach his lips.

They were beautiful, looking all soft and gentle and—

When he smiles, she wants to look away but can't… He talks to her, and she's very aware of how both of his lips brush against each other… He calls her with her name, and she can't help but notice how the shape of his semi-puckered lips goes during the _'oh'_ part of _'Rose'_… He smirks and the curve of his lips just looked pleasant, to say the least… He wets his lips, and she imagines how it would feel like if she wets them herse—

No.

"Get a grip," Rose muttered to herself. She hesitated for two seconds before craning her neck to peer at Scorpius; he was furiously scribbling away on his parchment. "_Oh_, he is so smart," she breathed pathetically. And then added firmly to herself, "Get a damn grip!"

"Hey, Rose!"

Shawn hissed beside her while looking anxiously if the professor was looking; Binns was floating near a shelf of newspaper clippings from last century with his back on his students. "What?" Rose snapped, though she didn't really mean too.

Shawn looked annoyed for a second, which Rose felt glad about. "Have you got an answer for question four? You know, about the Wilson Squib bloke who tried to overthrow the thirteenth Minister with a machete?"

Rose frowned. "If I have any answer, I wouldn't be sharing it with you."

Her pseudo-boyfriend was taken aback, and then composed himself with an alluring face. "Come on, babe. Just a hint."

"I'm sorry, but no." Rose went back to her test.

"I'm your boyfriend!"

The blonde Malfoy sighed. "I know this isn't the perfect time and I should've told you earlier but…we're done, alright?"

Shawn's mouth fell open. After a moment, he shut it close and stared down at Rose with his lips in a firm line, his temple pulsating. He looked like he was about to rupture a vein. "Are you dumping me?" he asked menacingly.

"Yes, now please leave me with my test."

"No. One. Dumps. _Me_."

Rose probably shouldn't have responded, but she didn't know it could actually cause a wrathful breakout. After saying "I just did", Shawn banged the surface of his desk with his fist, sending his inkwell flying and spilling ink everywhere, and yelled, "WHY?"

Rose flinched and snapped her head towards Binns, who appeared to be equally surprised as her, like everyone else inside the classroom. She returned her eyes to Shawn who looked livid.

"Could we please do this later?" Rose said quietly.

"I want to know WHY?"

The quasi-Malfoy scoffed at Shawn's exaggerated behaviour and could not resist retorting, "You know what _I'd_ like to know? Why you're acting like this when I know for a fact that you didn't actually feel anything deep for me."

"We've been going out for seven fucking months—"

"And I wonder how we stayed that long, considering our feelings for each other! I don't even love you!" Rose almost yelled emphatically.

"You bitch, I was only putting up with you only until you agree to let me bang you out!"

Everyone didn't know what to do; even Professor Binns seemed to be too engrossed to intervene with the soap opera-like phenomenon happening inside his boring-by-default classroom. And the students' shock doubled when Rose began laughing.

So that was it, why Shawn was in a relationship with Rose Malfoy, because he wanted to shag her. That was the plain reason. Meaning, Rose Malfoy had not slept yet with Shawn during the course of their relationship. Rose was happy; well, you should definitely give her Malfoy counterpart props for that. At least, the Malfoy-counterpart still had her principles to follow.

"What the hell are you laughing about?"

Rose shook her head, with the ghost of her laughter still on her lips. "I'm sorry, Shawn, but honestly, you won't get anything from me. I'm sure Sophie would be a much more productive option. I don't really get why you're so upset with me breaking up with you. I mean, inside those seven months, weren't you just itching to _do_ someone?"

"You fu—AGH!"

Shawn was blasted towards the wall as everyone gasped. Rose turned to see who casted the spell and saw Scorpius looking as angry as he was when they were in that club during winter break.

Shawn staggered upright, pointed his wand at Scorpius and said, "What the fuck, Weasley?"

"Hey!" Albus stood up and whipped his wand out too, pointing to Shawn.

"That's enough." Professor Binns finally saw the time to intrude the class situation. He told Shawn to go to the hospital wing, seeing a trickle of blood coming from the side of his mouth, after sentencing him to a week's detention, and ordered Scorpius to go to the Headmistress' office. Scorpius pocketed his wand and left the room without any protest whatsoever.

"How about me?" Rose croaked.

"I see no fault from you, Miss Malfoy," Binns replied with his tired voice. "Everyone return to their test."

"But I provoked the situation!"

"Then I think I shall have to satisfy your sense of justice with deduction of ten points from Slytherin. Now return to your test."

Rose thought it was unfair to get to finish her test while Scorpius was in the office. And besides, even if she wanted to, she couldn't; Scorpius' action was still fresh in her mind. Why _did_ he do that?

Rose tried to straighten her face, but she saw Albus, who was glaring at her. Now she really _can't_ answer the test.

.

"Detention for a month."

Scorpius' exhausted voice sounded quietly as he took a seat beside Rose in the library. He sighed and smiled kindly at her. "Clean the professors' lounge room after a Niffler had mysteriously got in, also organize Filch's inventory of confiscated items. No wand work. I think I have the right to be disappointed with good old McGonagall. I admit that I was expecting a weightier punishment. All those could be done in a week or something."

"Filch's inventory is a jungle. And I heard the Niffler demolished the room. You could be in there for months."

"Well, we'll see..."

"You shouldn't've done that," Rose replied sympathetically. "You weren't able to finish your test—"

"That's not important. He was bothering you."

"But I started it…I broke up with him after he asked me to give him the answer for question number four."

Scorpius snorted. "Wow, Rose. Perfect timing."

"I just couldn't stand him any longer!"

"But isn't it funny? You used to like him. Remember?"

Rose frowned. "I was stupid and naïve back then."

"That was less than a month ago," he pointed out, and seeing Rose was in no mood for that kind of conversation, he shifted to a different subject, though it was rather in relevance to the first. "How about Shawn? What happened to that wanker?"

"I don't know, nor do I care."

"So you have officially broken up?" Scorpius' eyes sparked, which Rose failed to notice, as she continued frowning at her book.

"Yes! He can shag Sophie for all I care. Can we please not talk about it—"

"Why?"

"It's annoying. It's just reminding me of how idiotic I was back before." Rose sighed and then glanced at him. "You know, I think I've grown up the most just in the past couple of weeks than I ever had before in some points of my life."

Scorpius locked his eyes to hers, contemplating…thinking…deciding—

"It feels like dying."

And Rose finally went back to her book. Scorpius ran his hand through his hair. When can he ever do it? Then he saw a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "What are you smiling about?" he asked.

Rose shook her headgged. "I just can't get over it."

"It what?"

She shrank in her seat and a faint blush crept up her neck. "Nothing," she mumbled.

"Come on…" Scorpius grew intrigued as Rose fought away the little grin that was breaking through her face. "Tell me."

"I'm just being silly." Rose tightened her hold on her book and tried to concentrate on what she was reading.

Scorpius snatched the book away and slid it on the farthest corner of the table. Rose scoffed and reached for it but he pushed her back down.

"I'm serious. It's nothing!" Rose was obviously annoyed now. But Scorpius was still curious.

"Spit it out, Weasley." Scorpius said the name, not with his usual spiting tone, but with a rather endearing one.

Rose succumbed and sighed. She relaxed on her seat, with Scorpius' hand still on her forearm (which she did not think of shoving away, not at all) and looked embarrassedly at him. "The part where we're friends now. I've implied that before; I still _can't_ believe it's happening."

Scorpius slowly grinned. "And I've also said this before: we could've been friends from the start."

Rose lowered her eyes at his hand on her arm. It wasn't awkward, and she was thankful that he did not pull it away. "I'm sorry…well, again because I've told you that before, too, but I really mean it. I'm sorry because I never trusted you to be different from what I initially thought."

His hand slid down to her arm and slipped its fingers in-between Rose's. His hold was so tight that he felt Rose's pulse in sync with his. "I'm sorry too. You know what for. And if I could bring back time, I would make more efforts to build a friendship with you. I would've bent my pride."

Rose snorted. "That was corny, Scorpius."

"Yeah but I mean it."

Just then, Albus walked by the aisle where Scorpius and Rose were and stopped dead on his tracks upon laying eyes on their entwined hands.

"Oh."

Rose and Scorpius looked suddenly at Albus. Rose snatched her hand away and whispered, "Al."

Albus frowned, with an undertone of disgust in his features, and shook his head. "Whatever, Scorp."

He rolled his eyes, still shaking his head, and disappeared behind a few bookshelves. Rose, who had unconsciously stood up, slowly sat back down and breathed sadly. Her eyes lingered to where her used-to-be cousin stood and tightened her lips in a line.

"Hey," Scorpius said worriedly. "Don't think about it, come on."

"I told myself it was okay," Rose said quietly. "But I just can't take it. _They hate me_."

"Not you," Scorpius sat on the edge of his seat so he could move closer towards Rose. "Remember, Rose Malfoy. She's not you. Alright?"

"But they don't know that—"

"It doesn't matter. _I _know, and you do, too. Isn't that enough?"

Rose avoided his eyes. "I'm going to head back to the common room, okay?" she said in a gentle voice.

"How about dinner?"

"I'm not hungry," she muttered. Rose gathered her things and stood up to leave, but before she could exit from the library, Rose gave Scorpius a small smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"You gonna be fine?" Scorpius called as she went. Rose nodded in response and continued walking.

Scorpius licked his lips and rubbed his forehead. He was getting tired of it. Every single day, he and Rose would pass by a group of Potters and Weasleys and they'd earn themselves contempt looks, as if the two of them were pus-filled wounds with two legs (not only from the cousins but also from the other students who think their sudden friendship was beyond strange). Scorpius started avoiding his quasi-cousins after he noticed that. Of course, he did his very best so that Rose wouldn't be aware of an apparent mutiny against both of them, but his efforts were not enough. Although Rose was already deeply hurt by her predicament with her old family, he did not want her to feel too ostracized.

He decided that he didn't feel like having dinner himself, so that meant he still had a couple of hours to kill before he'd go for his first night of detention. He went out of the library, thinking of catching up with a quick homework, but was startled when he saw Albus standing by the doorway. Scorpius thought of something to say, but he bit his tongue and walked past him.

"Scorp, wait," Albus' voice sounded frustrated.

"What?" Scorpius turned around with a bored expression.

"I want to talk to you about what's happening—"

Scorpius turned back round and began walking.

"Hey! I was talking to you!" Albus hurried up beside him and grabbed him by the shoulder.

"I don't want to hear whatever you're going to say—"

"Stop being stubborn—What's happened to you, huh? You've changed. Suddenly, you're spending winter nights with Ice Princess—"

"Stop that—"

"Oh, do you want me to call her Sweetie Rosie Lovie? I'm sorry but my tongue might scorch from the irony of it."

Scorpius' face distorted.

"Scorpius, tell me, what's she done to you? Never in a million years would you talk-shit your family trip so you could shag hard a Malfoy—"

The red-head's hand clenched into a ball as he fought hard not to whip his wand to hex his best friend, or at least to smash his fist against his face. "Who said anything about shagging?"

"Well, what did the two of you do—"

"It's none of your business," Scorpius said in a dangerously low voice as he started to walk through the corridors. "Even if I told you, you wouldn't understand the half of it. What has that little conniving snitch told all of you?"

"First of all," Albus said, keeping up with Scorpius' pace. "_You're_ the conniving one. Second, if you mean Hugo by _that little conniving snitch_, then he told us what you were doing during the break, which is get all comfortable and close with Malfoy."

"Stop calling her Malfoy, okay?" Scorpius said heatedly.

"What is _wrong_ with you? What happened to you? Did _she_ do this to you? Did she make you drink anything? Hey!" Albus pushed Scorpius when he wasn't acknowledging him.

"What's the big deal, Al? We're friends!"

"She's a Malfoy!"

"What?" Scorpius ran his hand through his hair and looked away to compose himself. "Look, I think that's way low of you, judging people by their last names—"

"You're the one to talk. I don't know how this pal-thing happened between the two of you, but don't you remember? You used to hate her like hell. She has made school a living hell for you! Don't you remember how Malfoy used to jinx you in the corridors, trip you when you walk by her, make your cauldron explode during Potions? All that? She made you a loser, Scorp. She insulted our family! Rose Malfoy bullied you, and you didn't fight back, although you hated her so bad. You wanted to hurt her and get back at her for giving you hell but you couldn't because you've said that fighting back would only bring more trouble! That was stupid! And Malfoy said it made you weak and she took advantage of that…she turned many people against you, Scorp, hated you…She hated us all, and just because of our family—"

"But you hated her too, because she's a Malfoy."

"Scorpius, we all know we gave her a chance at the beginning," Albus replied while shaking his head sadly. "_You_ gave her a chance. But she refused. She turned exactly like her father—"

Scorpius grabbed Albus' collar angrily. "Stop. Now."

"See this?" Albus pushed Scorpius away. "You've really changed. Even in the smallest of ways. You strut around the castle as if you owned the place. You've lost your tight schedule. You've gotten louder and sarcastic and spiteful in words. You've even landed yourself in trouble in purpose for her sake! You never got detention. And Scorp, don't take this personally, but you've gotten cocky. You think I don't notice that? Malfoy has changed you, and not in a good way. A Weasley would never—"

"A name doesn't define me or anyone," Scorpius said. "And nobody does, too. You don't tell me who I am or how I act. Not you or Hugo or my parents. Not even Rose. I may have acted under everyone's expectations before, like what you are suggesting, but I'm tired of it. I'm tired of letting anyone rule my life and of letting myself get blinded with pride."

"You're just going to forgive Rose Malfoy for everything she did against you?" Albus said as if he didn't hear what Scorpius had just said.

"That's the problem, Al. You don't know—you…I can't explain this to you because I know you won't believe me anyway…You don't see her like I do, okay? She's not Rose _Malfoy_—"

"Tell me more," Albus scoffed.

"Not Rose _Malfoy_…She's just Rose. There's nothing wrong about that."

Scorpius exhaled loudly and shook his head. Albus would never understand. He left him standing on the spot, still appearing unmoved. Scorpius didn't care anymore. This world can turn against him, throw him out, but he wouldn't retreat from what he felt for Rose. Not now that he was sure of it.

.

Rose felt her throat constrict and become painful as she pushed back the tears. She swore she'd never cry again, because Scorpius has specifically said once that things would soon return to normal, that everything would be alright again, but she just felt so helpless that moment.

When she got out of the library, Rose saw Albus leaning against the wall. She paused and looked entreatingly at him, mentally begging him that he recognized her as Rose, his closest cousin and friend. But she caught his eye and the gleam she saw in it was painful to see.

"Al—"

"What do you think you're doing, Malfoy?" he spat.

Rose closed her mouth and took a step back, lowering her eyes to the floor.

"Are you happy that Scorpius now adores you so much that he'd risked not taking an important test? You know how he gets lunatic with his grades and school record."

"I—"

"You're ruining him by pretending to be interested in him—"

"No—you—I'm not…," Rose said breathlessly and weakly, finally looking at him. Her eyes were becoming hot.

Albus looked at a different direction, signalling that the conversation was done. Rose continued on her way, her teeth clenched in desperation to not spill her tears. She was only a floor away from the Slytherin dungeons when Sophie blocked her way. Rose willed herself not to utter a curse; another confrontation was the last thing she needed.

"I've no time for this—"

"I heard what happened. During History of Magic. Shawn told me."

"Yeah, look, I really need to go—"

Sophie looked at her expressionlessly. "And I heard the Weasley's cousins and brother hate you so much now."

"What's your point?" Rose choked, but she remained in control.

"Everyone thinks you're acting strange. There's a rumour going around that you hooked up with Weasley during the winter break—"

"Could you please leave me alo—"

"You're finally falling from your throne, Rose."

That took Rose unexpectedly. Sophie smiled nastily and reached to touch her arm.

"It's okay, Rosie. I knew this was coming. And you deserve it," Sophie smiled wider. She looked cheerful and sweet, in contrast to her intention. "I knew I just have to play along for some time before I see and have what I want. No hard feelings, though, alright?"

Rose frowned and pushed her hand away. She knew Sophie was never her friend, but it still hurt her. "Just please, let me through," Rose said hoarsely.

"You know Shawn would've stuck around longer with you if you just let him have what he wanted."

"You can have him. I don't care. Have fun."

Sophie held her back for a moment. "It's such a shame, Rose. You let yourself go. You had everything, but hanging out with that Weasel loser was a big downfall. What were you thinking?"

Rose swallowed the lump in her throat hard enough after Sophie patted her cheek, smiled coldly and went. When Rose was alone, she ran to the dark hallways of the dungeons. Once she was inside, she slowed down, letting the darkness encompass her. Everything was turning more topsy-turvy. She wanted it to stop. And at the end of the corridor was the Slytherin House; it was far from home. Everything was far from home, and wherever she went, she felt like a stranger. She even felt like one to herself. There was a saying, she remembered, that goes along like _'Home is where the heart is'_ but what if she doesn't know where her heart is anymore?

Not many students were in the common room. Most of them were from the younger years. Rose looked around warily, feeling like eyes of criticism and forbiddance and judgement were on her. She settled on an armchair near the fire and away from the few Slytherins inside. She then saw the fourth year girl who braided her hair before the winter break sitting on the velvet sofa alone. She smiled at the girl, to which the younger one responded with wide eyes, the same expression she used when Rose, who then just had blonde hair replace her red curls, kindly asked her to do a French braid for her. Rose remembered that she had asked the fourth year why she looked terrified and surprised by her little request. The girl shyly said that Rose had always been mean.

"Hi," Rose told the girl. "Why aren't you having dinner?"

The girl shook her head dumbly.

"Where're your friends?"

The girl shook her head again.

Rose's smile slightly faltered, but saved the awkwardness by saying, "You do amazing French braids, by the way. You taught me how to do it manually and by magic. That was really nice. I never got to thank you, so…erm, thank you."

"You're welcome." Rose remembered how the girl's hands were trembling as she fixed her hair.

The girl smiled a little and then went away, probably feeling flabbergasted. Was Rose Malfoy really that vile that younger girls were terrified of her? Rose didn't really pay much attention to Rose Malfoy's relationship with her peers. All she primarily noticed was that Rose Malfoy hated Scorpius Weasley. In consideration, there wasn't much difference with her and Scorpius' (the Malfoy one, not the theoretical Weasley one) situation. Maybe their past state was downscaled, because it was clear that they did not hate each other _like that_, but rather, Rose and Scorpius merely refused to be friends, which they expressed through the usual academic warfare, insults and wand-work, but they _never _bullied each other.

Now, it seems that Rose understands how her supposedly Malfoy counterpart is. And she's not happy about Rose Malfoy. She's a bully and mean queen-bee, far from her own self and even from Scorpius. And Sophie was right; Rose Malfoy _is_ falling out from her throne. Rose would feel glad about that, but since her role in her current world was supposed to be Rose Malfoy, she was not at all happy. It means she had to endure rumours and nasty glances and glares, just because she had friendship with a Weasley. But it was worth it. As Scorpius had said a few times, they could only trust each other now.

.

It was already nine o'clock when the Slytherin common room was fully packed…and when Rose felt that almost everyone was looking at and whispering about her. Why were they making a big deal out of things? It was as if they didn't know that it was already hard enough without their opinion. But of course, Rose knew that they didn't know how hard it was, but it still was uncomfortable. She snapped her book shut; she wasn't reading anyway, just staring at a sentence she hardly understood, albeit its simplicity. She stood up to leave for her scheduled Prefect shifts. She was to do rounds in the fifth floor corridors and was glad to leave the place. At least she'll be alone in the fifth floor.

Rose went up her way, her lips tight with frustration as a few students gave her curious looks. News definitely spread fast in Hogwarts. She wondered if it was only about her breakup with Shawn or also about her friendship with Scorpius, something that Sophie pointed out. She ran into Lily on the fourth floor. The red-haired Potter slightly knitted her eyebrows together and looked at her sternly.

"Lily…" Rose managed to say.

Lily calmed her expression and made to continue away, but Rose said, "Please look at me."

"I don't like being rude, Malfoy—" the address cut Rose deeply "—but I don't know why you're suddenly looking at me as if you want to be friends. Whatever your plot is, please don't hurt Scorpius. If it's a master plan to humiliate him, it's going nowhere, okay—"

"Is she bothering you, Lils?" James appeared beside Lily, his protective arm wrapping itself on his little sister's shoulder. "Malfoy, why don't you just go along?"

"She's not making trouble, James. Now, can we please go?" Lily turned around.

"Hold on a second," James said, as Rose stayed rooted on the spot, fearing to get in fight with her cousins. "I just want something to say—"

"James, I don't want trouble—"

He ignored his sister. "Malfoy, you better watch where you're stepping. Making Scorp be with you alone during the holidays, being friends with him, breaking up with Shawn? Something's going on, I can tell. Hurt Scorpius and I hurt you, you got it? I just had had enough of you. I don't want to leave Hogwarts with you still stepping on people."

With that, the two Potters left. Rose knew that some students watched the confrontation. She bit her lip and flickered her eyes here and there, trying to push back her tears. When she was sure to move again, she ran up the stairs as fast as she can and arrived on the fifth floor. It was deserted, to her satisfaction. She walked on the middle of the corridor, her sniffs echoing against the walls. Rose constantly brought her wrists to her cheeks to wipe her tears, but more just kept flowing. It was horrible, she felt horrible. Every word her cousins uttered had been a knife through her chest. She just wanted them back. How angry they were towards her! And all because of a friendship. Rose thought what if she was a Weasley again and she befriended Scorpius. Would they be angry? Probably not, knowing that Albus was Scorpus' best mate and there were no objections.

Finally, Rose quieted her sobs. She found the reason to do her duty properly and began to check the rooms along the corridors. The classrooms were empty, so were the study halls and the broom cupboards. But when she was about look into the teacher's lounge, she saw it was not empty.

Scorpius was staring at the fireplace, where glittering flames danced. But something was peculiar; the flames were no ordinary ones. They took shape. It was the Sand of Golden Thought. She could not make out what the shapes of the flames were. Nor can she see Scorpius' face. Rose accidentally pushed the door an inch, making it creak in the slightest, which caused Scorpius to snap his red head towards her direction. The flames vanished simultaneously, leaving a pretty and mysterious glow from the embers.

"How—how long have you been there?" Scorpius stuttered.

"Just a couple of seconds," Rose said quietly. "What were you watching? I know it was the Sand."

"You didn't see?"

"No," she said innocently as she entered the room and sat beside him. "What're you doing here?"

"Detention, remember?" Scorpius said, slightly looking disoriented with his companion's sudden appearance. He flicked his wand and sent the fire alive again, only this time, there were no shapes, just ordinary fire. He reached before him to retrieve the pouch of the Sand and weighed it on his palm. "It's very entertaining. They can make dreams look as if they really happened."

Rose looked at him and was extremely curious with what he saw in the fire. Scorpius turned his head to look at her and then frowned.

"Have you been crying?"

Rose clenched her teeth and stared at the fire. "They hate me." Her voice shook, though she forced herself to sound steady.

Scorpius took her hand and enveloped it with both of his. "They hate me too."

"They couldn't. You're their cousin." Rose still was not looking at him.

"I tell you, they hate me," Scorpius said softly. "Other people look at me weirdly too—"

"Same here."

"The society doesn't agree with our ceasefire," he tried to joke about it. Rose's frown deepened. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. "Hey…they don't tell us what to do. They can't influence us, alright?"

Rose sniffed. Then after a few moments, she cried.

Scorpius encircled his arms around her. "We'll fix this," he murmured.

* * *

_PLEASE point out if there were any grammar and spelling errors. I know it's not healthy for a writer, but I'm just really lazy to proofread it. _


	16. Dreaming Of, Not About

_Hey._

_Sorry for the terribly slow update. I was busy, if locking yourself up in your room for three weeks during a short vacation from college just to read The Hunger Games and The Mortal Instruments and Twelfth Night and Silence is something you call busy. I call it hibernating.  
_

* * *

_Chapter 15_

All the while, Scorpius watched Rose. Only Rose. He wasn't looking at the flaming projection of Rose's dreams in the fire, but he was listening to her as she narrated about the images. Rose really seemed fascinated about the Sand. It was a rare thing after all. But she gave it to him as a Christmas present. Well, actually, Rose's gift to him was the _thought_ of giving something to him, especially an object that came from Astoria and Draco. Scorpius accepted the Sand from Rose, not because he found it interesting (he really didn't give a damn about it, as a matter of fact), nor because he could come to pretend that his parents gave it to him, like how Rose seemed to pretend that the Malfoys gave it as a present to their 'unknown' son by handing it to Scorpius. No, he accepted the Sand because he had looked at Rose's eyes, those same brown eyes that meant friendship and sincerity. He knew that it would make her happy, although he also knew she would like to have it for herself.

The mechanics of using the enchanted soil was simple enough. It was like a cross between Floo Powder and a Pensive. You take a copious pinch and as you feed it to the fire, you think of a vision. It doesn't matter if it's a mere fantasy you have created in your mind, a pleasant dream you've had from a fitful sleep or even a nightmare you would curiously want to examine (and why would you want to revisit a nightmare?), as long as it was formed in your mind. The only thing you need to do is keep thinking of your dream while staring at the flames, which were peculiarly not as hot as fire itself. It was a confortable kind of warm. You just have to keep thinking and staring, otherwise, the fire would die down. It could be considered as a game of concentration, but it wasn't hard at all, for the way the fire swayed before your eyes, creating the images you thought could only be seen within your mind, was highly hypnotic. It was as if it was holding you in that peaceful field between slumber and consciousness.

It was not really a practical thing to own as it does nothing particularly useful, but in the past, Seers have used it to look into the dreams of their patrons. That was until the underground caverns that contained the Sand came under the protection of some group after the discovery of a new specie of pixies that were attracted to the glittery effect of the Sand. Of course, now and then, a few sacks of the Sand are being sold, a careful amount that would cause no harm to the pixies. Since then, it was only used for sentimental purposes only, and because of its rarity, it costs a lot.

But Scorpius' mind was devoid of any of those thoughts, the methodology of the Sand's use and its history. His thoughts and his eyes were on Rose. And she doesn't even seem to notice. There was a kind of glimmer in her eyes that had nothing to do with sparks in the fireplace or the tell-tale tears she had shed minutes ago. She was murmuring her dream as they sat beside each other on the floor, shoulder to shoulder. It was the closest they have ever sat with each other. And it was comfortable.

"I was breathing," she said softly and peacefully. "Underwater. I wasn't swimming. Just floating. Like a jellyfish, I guess…"

Scorpius was curious about an underwater Rose shown in flames. That would look interesting. But he wanted to look at the real Rose right now. Her skin was glowing. He listened as she continued.

"I wasn't thinking about anything. Just floating and not thinking. That was what made it peaceful. The ocean was so big and clear. But it wasn't the kind that looked like you're lost. Like it's never ending. Not like a desert. In my dream, I turn my head and see corals and shells and fishes and sea weeds and colours. Colours. They were beautiful. But then I became suddenly scared. Next thing I knew, I was sinking."

Scorpius noticed the change in her voice. Her face had gone into a mask, something that tried to hide the embarrassment or the worry.

"There were shadows everywhere and everything beautiful underwater turned into bubbles and drifted upward. Then I felt the need to breathe air. Something was dragging me down. And all I could see was the dark blue water everywhere. Next thing I knew, I was at the bottom and my lungs were burning and I tried to swim up but the ocean floor was eating my feet. I couldn't breathe—"

Scorpius looked urgently at the fire of the Sand. He could see the small projection of Rose that looked very real. She was already engulfed by the ocean floor waist down. A stream of bubbles burst from her mouth as she desperately tried to gasp for air. The air bubbles looked strange in the fire. The Rose in the dream reached her arms up, her expression was in pain. She was scared. _He_ was scared.

"Rose stop!" Scorpius gasped as he shook her arm; he was unable to peel his eyes away from the flames.

"There was nobody out there," Rose continued.

"Stop!"

Scorpius turned his head at Rose and saw that her face was twisted miserably. "Rose, that's enough."

But she merely stared at the blaze.

Scorpius urgently wrapped both his arms around Rose, pushing her head down against his shoulders and hoping the magical flames would extinguish, along with the vision. "I don't want it," he said breathlessly. "It looked too real."

"It was just a dream," she said softly.

"When did you have it?"

"Last night," Rose replied. She gently lifted her head, but she was still clutching Scorpius' shirt as she did so.

Scorpius was reluctant to loosen his hold on her, fearing in a completely paranoid and illogical way that she might sink into the floorboards of the room and he could do nothing about it. The room was suddenly dimmed as the fire died. The only light that faintly illuminated their surroundings came from the glowing embers in the fireplace. Scorpius slowly took his arms off her.

"Sorry," he said, though he's not sure what he was apologizing for.

"It was just a dream," she repeated firmly, although Scorpius noticed how rigid she was sitting. Rose let go of his shirt and folded her hands neatly on her lap. "Your turn."

"To what?" He was watching her closely, but Rose was expressionless now.

"To use the Sand."

"I think it's getting late," he exhaled. "If you want, I could walk you back to y—"

"You promised me you'd show me your dream."

Scorpius flicked his wand hesitantly and ordinary flames shot up from the ashes. He grabbed Sand from the pouch and threw it into the fire. He didn't remember any dream, so nothing was yet projected. The warm colors of the fire now burned with a mesmerizing glaze of glitter. Rose waited patiently as Scorpius thought.

"I can't remember any dream," he said quietly with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Anything then," Rose said. "As long as you show me something."

"Don't you want to go to bed? You must be tired—"

"I don't want to go to bed. I don't want to go to the dungeons. I want to stay here. And you promised you'd show me your dream. Think harder."

Scorpius let out a sigh. Rose usually gets insistent when she tries to hide how upset she is. And she's very _very_ upset. "Okay."

Suddenly, one of his dreams came to him. He didn't know how or why he remembered it, but there it was. In the dream, he was sitting in Ron's study and Ron was sitting behind his desk, just like the time before he went back to Hogwarts. The difference was that Rose was also present in the room, sitting on another chair beside him, though the flames didn't show her. It was just an image. He didn't remember the story behind it. He didn't know what they were doing, but he remembered how he felt in the dream.

Scorpius remembered the desire to hold Rose's hand was so overwhelming it almost caused him physical pain. He felt like there were vice grips on his wrists and every time he made to move his hand to reach for Rose's, the grips get tighter. In the dream, his chest was bursting with emotion. He was not only longing, but he was scared. Probably like how frightened Rose was in her own dream, but with a different reason, though somehow relative. He felt hopeful but helpless, like he could do nothing about it but hope. Scorpius shook his head. It probably wasn't hope. It was wishful thinking.

He diverted his eyes away from the flames the moment he was aware that he remembered what was going to happen in the dream. The flames died down again.

"What was that about? Rose asked.

"I…" but Scorpius couldn't exactly tell her anything about the dream. In the dream, Scorpius was able to free himself from the invisible grips and was able to stretch his arms beside to take hold of Rose's hand. Ron smiled at him and disappeared while Rose welcomed Scorpius' fingers between hers. All the pain, the worry, the fright were gone. Only relief remained. And happiness. Scorpius lifted their hands and kissed Rose's palm, her fingertips and her knuckles while he looked straight to her eyes, her brown eyes. Freckles powdered her nose and her cheeks. Her hair was like fire, it was red and bright and the curls lay on her shoulders delicately. Rose moved her free hand to rake Scorpius' pale blond hair off his eyes, her hand resting on the back of his neck. Scorpius pulled himself closer, leaving his chair and kneeling beside Rose. She went down from her chair, and the two of them sat on the floor, facing each other—

That was where the dream ended.

It was a good thing Scorpius cut the magical fire before it could show anything.

"Are you alright?" came Rose's voice.

"Yeah," Scorpius said fake-cheerfully as he nodded his head. "Fine…"

"What was dad doing in your dream? You were in his study."

He smirked convincingly. "He was giving me a lecture about _protection_. He just realized how devilishly gorgeous his 'son' was and how every girl I pass by salivates after me. He was worried more about the girls than about me. I ended up making balloon animals with his educational paraphernalia out of boredom, if you know what I'm talking about."

"Balloon animals," Rose echoed disbelievingly. "Educational paraphernalia? Dad giving sex ed. And you, _devilishly _gorgeous. Your ego astounds me. Very much. But why did you stop?"

"I didn't think you'd find that interesting. I mean, I know I twist up spanking mean balloon animals but come on, you see me every day. You already know how hot I am."

Rose grinned, although she looked sceptical. "You're absolutely right."

"Your turn again?"

"No, you're not telling me something."

Scorpius' eyebrows shot up. "What?"

"Something about your dream."

"Well, ever since, I wanted to be the most beautiful person that ever existed. But that dream was extremely short-lived because when I was three years old, I saw myself in the mirror and realized I already am the most beautiful person that ever existed. That's the truth. I also dream about being a pilot, is that what Muggles call those blokes who fly the airplane thing? Yeah, I wanted to be that. But I'm already handsome; we can't have everything."

Rose rolled her eyes impatiently. Scorpius didn't think that swerving the conversation off of his dream was getting successful. "I'm serious. I meant about your dream, like moments ago in the fire."

"Oh, that," Scorpius chewed his lip comically. "Well, are you sure you want to talk about that? I'd rather talk about myself—"

"Scorpius—"

"I also dreamed about being the smartest kid on earth. But you shattered that dream. I'm the second-placer."

Rose sighed exasperatedly. "Your elusiveness from the subject of your dream only suggests that there _is_ something you're not telling me," she said quietly, her eyes on the fireplace. "But, yeah, you're only second best in terms of brilliance next to me."

Scorpius leaned back and propped his hand on the floor behind them for support. "Did you ever get the impression that when someone is elusive to a subject, he or she doesn't want to talk about it?"

"Why?" said, looking at him. "Why don't you want to about it?"

He smiled crookedly. "What you're doing right there is completely paradoxical."

"Pray tell why."

"We shouldn't be talking about my dream but you're urging it on by asking me why I don't want to talk about it."

"No, you're the paradoxical one," Rose shook her head. "_I_ want to talk about it so I'm asking questions about it. On the other hand, _you_ don't want to talk about it but you're saying statements that support the idea that our discussion is heading towards the very subject you don't want to talk about."

"Why care so much?"

Rose returned her eyes ahead. "Because whatever it is, it's bothering you. I'm not sure exactly what connection it has with your dream, but something about it is bothering you."

"And by focusing on what bothers me, you're able to escape what's bothering you? Is that it?"

Rose's lips tightened. "You're smart."

"But you're smarter," Scorpius said resignedly. "In fact, too smart for me."

"No, you're wrong. I believe, if we're as smart as what we think of each other, we belong to the same kind of intelligence group. That's probably why we concluded before that we don't like each other and why we realize we like each other now."

Scorpius grinned in a mocking way. "You _like_ me?" he teased as he nudged her shoulder with his forehead. Rose snorted and elbowed him on the ribs.

"Ah," he said blissfully, more to himself. "Rose likes me."

"You're not being serious. I'm serious."

"For once on this forsaken day, I stand adamantly that I am not to be serious," Scorpius whispered. "Seriousness is tiring."

They remained silent for a few moments until he spoke. "I know you're upset. You analyse your subjects when you're upset. And you're subject for tonight is me. Wanna talk about it?"

"Did you ever get the impression that when someone is elusive to a subject, he or she doesn't want to talk about it?" Rose glanced at him as she quoted him.

"This is funny," Scorpius straightened up, propping his elbows on his knees and dangling his hands between his shins. "We both want to psychoanalyse each other to evade our own inner demons. Though in this case, I'm ahead of you because I know exactly what's bothering you."

"The more the need to talk about _you_," Rose countered. "Because I have no clue what's up. Isn't that what you told me earlier? That you'd rather talk about yourself. We're in a win-win situation, then."

"You must find me awfully interesting to be able to quote me again and again. You _do_ like me."

Rose looked him in the eyes meaningfully. "I do." Then she gave him a playful smile.

Scorpius grinned and nudged her shoulder with his head again.

"Stop doing that," she said. "Your resemblance to a dog becomes increasingly alarming."

"A very handsome dog."

"Still, a dog."

"Rather that, than an unattractive duck luck you."

"The ugly duckling turned out to be a lovely swan."

"That was a fairy tale, _id est_, not real."

"Amazing, a dog that knows a little Latin," Rose finally muttered. But she was smiling. "You're frustrating, you know that?"

"Yes, yes I do. And that's one of the many qualities that draw many people to adore me. They like a bad boy."

"If by bad boy, they mean a whiny selfish brat who doesn't believe in fairy tales and thinks that the joy of the whole world is his existence, then I might actually agree with you."

Scorpius poured his eyes on her. Her words were joking, but she looked like she wasn't enjoying the banter now. He moved closer, unable to stop himself. "Something's wrong," he murmured.

Rose peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. "Nothing's wrong," she breathed. "I just think it's funny how one of our hobbies is teasing each other. Don't you think that's cute?"

"You think it's funny and, okay, cute, yet you seem like you don't like it."

"No, that's not it," Rose said defensively, twisting on the floor so she could face him fully. "I like it. I just—I just think that it's so fun it makes me sad."

Scorpius was baffled. "Just when I thought that I came to my limit of understanding whatever the hell you're talking about, there you go pushing down the range. _What_ in the name of Merlin do you mean by it making you sad?"

Rose bit her lip, looking confused, as if she didn't understand what she said herself. "I mean, calling you names, telling you how much of a conceited idiot you are, all that...it's just, I know you aren't…"

Scorpius' laugh boomed in the room. "Oh dear, Weasley…" He exclaimed breathlessly through his laughter. "That makes you sad? Merlin, aren't you a sweet little girl. You've gone absolutely loyal to me, I notice. I am genuinely touched. Right through the heart, I swear on my life. You said it yourself, Rose. It's our hobby together. It's like a game only the two of us can play. You know, our quality time." He was still laughing at her, albeit affectionately. "Please, don't feel bad about whatever cruel thing you throw at me, despite the honesty or your tremendous loyalty to me. I enjoy it. More than that. It's like a high."

"You mean you're turned on?"

"Now you're just flirting with me," he smiled. "If you want to do that, you need to do it subtly. That way, it would be more inviting."

"I can't believe I'm getting flirting lessons with you." Rose gave in to a smile too.

"Yes, and you'd get more of that tomorrow." Scorpius grabbed the pouch of the Sand and stood up. "Sweet little girls need to get their sleep. I'll walk you to your House. Come on."

"I…I don't want to go," Rose said slowly.

"Huh?"

"You can go on," she continued. "I think I'll stay here."

Scorpius chortled. "Don't be ridiculous. You'll sleep here? Filch will catch you. You'll get in trouble. Besides, this room isn't yet fit for a cozy little overnight. For one, it's the teachers' lounge room and the faculty-ness in the atmosphere is frightening. For another, a Niffler just attacked the room. I'm still not finish with the interior designing."

"I don't think I can't stay down there anymore."

Scorpius remembered Rose's dream. The earth was sucking her in. _There was nobody out there_, she had said.

"I'm here," Scorpius blurted out.

Rose looked at him as if he just told her a joke. "Yeah, I can see that. Look, if you want to g—"

"No, I'm here." He took his place again beside her on the floor. "I'll stay here. With you."

"Bu—"

"I'll lock the door, see?" Scorpius pointed his wand at the door and they both heard the distinctive click of the clock. "_Muffliato_."

"I'm not making you stay," Rose said.

He scoffed, "I have my own free will, thank you very much."

She hid a smile.

"It's like a slumber party. In a dark eerie scholastic room. This would be fun. In fact, this is our second slumber party. Remember the night when you became the drunken Malfoy stowaway?"

Rose nodded. "Yeah. I especially remember all the vomit. It was colourful."

"Ah, good times, _good times_…" Scorpius stretched his legs on the floor and leaned back with his hands on the floor behind him. "So…what do we do now?"

.

Rose woke up before daybreak, her head awkwardly resting on a thick Potions book as a pillow. She sat up and saw Scorpius stretched on across the floor beside her. She edged closer to him and examined his face for a good minute. She wanted to brush his hair with her hand but was afraid it might wake him up.

Last night, they spent their time looking for interesting things inside the faculty room while they fixed it on the process. After they have placed the room back in shape, they gathered books from the shelf and read them together on the floor. After a few minutes, when Scorpius declared he was already bored, they played hangman, only they hanged a magically drawn Shawn on the paper (the two did not possess extraordinary gifts in drawing) instead of an ordinary stickman. Both of them ended up not wanting to guess the mystery word just to see a cartoon Shawn being hanged over and over again. It was brutal, but satisfyingly hilarious.

Rose judged that she fell asleep first because the last bit of yester night's event that she remembered was her lying on her back on the floor, holding the same history book that Scorpius had and opened on the same page. Scorpius was reading a story about how a vampire was cursed by a hag to fall in love with a werewolf. It almost sounded romantic, if it weren't for the fact that Scorpius read the story in assorted accents. Everything just sounded cheesy and funny. Rose believed she drifted to sleep smiling; the last thing she saw was Scorpius and his voice, the last thing she heard.

She took a page out of Scorpius' book about not being serious that night. They joked around. They mocked each other. They forgot about how it seems like everyone is ostracizing them. They had fun together. But fun time has to end and Rose knew a new day lay ahead. She would be back to being stared at, being whispered about and more. She can't believe how the others were being superficial about Rose's sudden and suspicious change of heart. Aren't there more important things to talk about? Apparently, to those whose business depends on the latest social issues going on in Hogwarts, there's none.

It still hurt Rose how her cousins hate her. James even has threatened her. Although she knew that all of it was directed at Rose Malfoy's name, it was still propelled towards Rose's physical, mental and emotional being. _And, Merlin, did it strike true_, she thought grimly.

She knew she couldn't live like this for a long time. In her case, there were only two options, and neither of them was easy. Either to go away from everything, from her real family, from the Malfoys, from Hogwarts, everything, and just live her life the way it is at the moment, or she could pursue the absurd solution Mr. Dornhill had advised, which was to find true love. She couldn't decide which one was harder.

The first option was forfeiting. It was almost cowardly, but it requires a humongous amount of courage at the same time. How would it feel like to be a different person, someone who would leave everything she has known behind? She knows she won't be able to forget her family and friends, and that would make everything painful. It was cowardly because she was giving up on hope of returning normal, cowardly because she was frightened of failure and disappointment. But accepting the agony of being forgotten and leaving would mark her brave. All in all, the first option was a big joke, an irony.

The second option, however, was odd yet logical. Someone to love you for who you are, not for who the enchantment labelled you to be. Rose wasn't really the one to fuss about romance. She believed in it, yes, but considering her present condition, she deemed it ridiculous. Romance fixing a mess? If ever she learned anything from the romantic Muggle films Dominique and Roxanne loved to watch, it was that romance was the very cause of all the chaos that ensued.

_No_, a voice spoke in her head. _Dornhill didn't say romance. He said true love. True love doesn't automatically mean romance_.

But it _was logical. _True love sees truth. _And the truth shall set you free_. But _where_ to find that kind of love? Rose loves herself for who she is, although she really doesn't like a few things about herself. Could she free herself from the enchantment? Maybe she wasn't able to appreciate herself back before the spell. Maybe, if she achieved self-actualization now, it would get her back to normal. But Dornhill said that she and Scorpius _both_ need to have true love. Maybe Scorpius didn't appreciate himself enough too. Seriously?

Rose sighed and absent-mindedly flicked through the history book that seemed oddly too much like a bedtime storybook for children. There were historical tales about faeries and enchantresses, demons and warlocks, bloodthirsty dragons and slayers, vampires and werewolves, elves and pixies, even the Muggle royals years ago where mentioned having encounters with witches and wizards and magical beasts*. There were also stories of love defeating evil and turning everything right. It was very fairy tale-ish. She wondered how much she could take before she gave up finding her 'true love'. It all seemed ridiculous.

She was thinking of going back to sleep; it was still too early and besides, it was a weekend. But she thought of Filch and McGonagall or any from the staff. She surely didn't want to get caught in a deserted room, sleeping on the floor beside Scorpius. It wouldn't look pretty.

Rose crawled beside Scorpius and shook him. He woke sluggishly and sat up.

"'S still dark," he mumbled sleepily. "Do you need to go potty?"

"Shut up," Rose said through a smile. "It's four in the morning, I think. We better get back to our dorms."

"Okay, Miss Paranoia," Scorpius said hoarsely. He yawned and stretched and ruffled his hair. All the while, Rose watched him fuss about himself groggily, dusting off his pants and his shirt, scratching his neck, rubbing the sleep off his eyes, and finally, looking around blearily. "Where's the pouch?"

Rose looked around her and saw it beside one of the books they've gotten. She gave it to Scorpius, who bounced it up and down on his hand, looking as if he was contemplating something about the Sand.

Her observation was confirmed when he said, "I think you should keep it."

"What? The Sand? No, I gave it to you."

"Come on, you want it. Here," he tossed the palm-sized bag on her lap. "I'm not really the sentimental kind of person. The shit I like has nothing to do with looking into dreams or fantasies."

"Oh, and I seem like the type."

"You _are_ the type. All girls are."

"Sexist."

"No. Truth."

_Truth_.

"Did you dream last night?" Rose asked him out of the blue.

Scorpius looked at her peculiarly. _Last night was better than any good dream_, he thought. He remembered everything. Their games, their reading, their exchange of witty statements. He especially remembered her lying next to him, fast asleep. Rose fell asleep while he was reading her a historical record in the most absurd accents he knew. The record was about a vampire and a werewolf that fell in love with each other, after a hag cursed the vampire. It caused a breach in the court of Magical Protection of Kinds. The hag was arrested, but the vampire and the werewolf did not want to pursue any legal actions against the hag because the curse was lifted but "their love for each other remained". The court was outraged and humiliated.

Rose never knew what came of the hag, the vampire and the werewolf because she fell asleep. Scorpius didn't know either, because once he realized that Rose was sleeping, he closed the book and drew her blonde hair of her face. He then impulsively bent down and kissed her lightly on the forehead. A kiss didn't hurt.

"Yes, I dreamed something last night," Scorpius told her.

Rose took the Sand from her lap and offered it to Scorpius. "Show me. You owe me that."

He reached for it. Rose pointed her wand to the fireplace and fire ignited. Scorpius remembered his dream. He was watching Rose sleep. That was it. Just watching her sleep. He threw Sand unto the fire and the flames danced again for Rose and him. Rose slid close to him. They were sitting shoulder to shoulder again.

"No untimely ending again," Rose ordered.

"It's not necessary," Scorpius replied quietly. He stared at the fire and concentrated. Moments later, Rose's sleeping form came into the glittery blaze. She was asleep on her bed in the Malfoy Manor. Her hair spread on her pillow messily but beautifully. She was curled in a fetal position, her loosely clenched hands under her chin, as if she was praying.

"That's me," Rose said softly.

"Yes."

"You had a dream about me."

"No. I was dreaming of you." For Scorpius, dreaming about something and dreaming _of_ something were two different things. He believed that when you dream _about_ something, it is arbitrary. When you dream of something, you want to dream it. You want to see it. You dream it while you are awake and in sleep, you still dream. Your consciousness and subconscious agree with each other that it is one thing you want to see, wherever reality takes the mind. For him, it was Rose, the one he always wanted to see, the person who was really there, who knew him despite everything. Someone whom he followed in waking hours and who followed him in dreams.

Scorpius was not at all embarrassed that Rose was seeing this very personal dream that expressed his emotions. And he was glad that Rose didn't appear to be uncomfortable, at least from what he sensed, because he couldn't really see her face as he needed to keep staring at the flames.

While one-half of his thought was on his dream (just to please Rose) the other half his mind found it capable to drift off elsewhere towards another image in his mind. Not a dream, but a memory. He saw himself sitting in Ron's study, that day when he was going to tell him he was returning to Hogwarts before Christmas. But matters went offhand. And it took him by surprise.

_"Do you love Rose?" _Ron had asked.

"What the hell," Scorpius had answered. He remembered that he had nervously laughed. "I have not time for this. I'm packing—"

"_Sit_ down. I need to discuss this with you."

"What? Are you afraid your son would get an evil girlfriend—"

Ron had been patient. "There's no need to be defensively rude, Scorp. I'm not attacking you. I don't think Rose is evil. I may have acted that way last night, but I was just really disappointed in you for going behind your family's back."

Scorpius merely rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm sorry. Scorpius, I'm sorry. For being immature about an old breach that should have been forgotten. Whatever makes you happy, I'd do my best to have your back on it. I just don't want you slipping away just because you'd think we won't support you. I don't want you hurting anyone in the family just because you want to hide something, even though you don't know you've hurt someone. I want to be there for you. I am genuinely sorry for being rude to you and Rose last night. Scorpius, if you love her, I'll learn to acce—"

"Fact is I don't _love_ her, so stop gushing out. And I appreciate the apology. But Rose is hurt. What did you tell her minutes ago?"

"I didn't tell her anything," Ron shrugged. "She was the one who told me something."

"After you asked."

"After I asked, yes," the older of the two wizards nodded. "But I didn't force her to answer. If she decided she didn't want to tell me anything at all, I would've respected that. But she did tell me something. And not just by her words."

Scorpius frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"She told me you were a nice and real person. And that you were a good friend."

Scorpius slouched. "Yeah?" he said quietly. He didn't know what he was expecting her to tell Ron.

"She feels strongly for you, I can tell. It's in her eyes."

"I'd give your impressive sense of understanding a standing ovation if it weren't for my arse here glued to this chair by _my_ lack of understanding. Get on with your point and get straight to it."

Ron smiled. He was surprisingly patient, and that is with Scorpius being impolite to his supposed father. There was probably something more to Ron Weasley than what Scorpius had grown up thinking.

"That was my first question to you. Do you love Rose?"

"This is ridicu—"

"I don't believe it is. You don't need to be embarrassed with me. Or would you rather I go get your mom? Simple yes or no question: do you love Rose?"

"There's nothing simple about that."

Ron stood up. He was forcing himself not to laugh. He went around the table and sat on the edge of his desk in front of Scorpius. "That right there suggests something more specific than what I would have expected."

"You're creeping me out," Scorpius commented, feeling alarmed by Ron's actions. He was thinking that he's bipolar.

"You could easily say that you care for her, that you love her like that and nothing else. A friend—"

"Well, the context that gave an impression on me was a non-platonic love—"

Ron laughed gleefully as he clapped his hands. "Exactly! And with that in mind, you felt uncomfortable. You tried to escape my question. You probably felt like it was an accusation when it isn't. That _exactly_ tells me you're slightly going to the direction of 'yes' as an answer. Don't deny it. Your mother's a bright witch who has a strong power over psychology. I learn a few tricks now and then."

"What are you laughing about?" Scorpius asked, disoriented. His heart pounded.

"You amuse me, Scorp. But you're easy to read. I'm your dad. I know things. Look, I promise whatever your decision is, I'll respect it. I can't promise that I'll agree to every single one of them, but if you decide you want to have Rose as more than a friend, that's fine. It's not like you'll be dating Draco Malfoy when that happens. If that's the case, I'll disown you."

Ron clapped him on the back as he started to walk away from the study, but Scorpius called him. "Dad…"

"Yeah?"

"Is it really okay?"

Ron's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "You probably think it's crazy that last night I was fuming about it, but I see the way you look at her, heard the way you talk about her. It's the same way I look at and talk about your mother. _And _besides,you got in trouble for Rose. You never land yourself in trouble on purpose. You avoid it as much as you can, as a matter of fact, but there you go. I can't really do anything now. If I tried to stop you, I'd be just adding fuel to the fire of your passion and love."

That actually made Scorpius laugh. "Thanks…dad," he told Ron.

"Hey, it is what it is."

He was alone when he finally said it out loud.

_"I love Rose."_

Scorpius suddenly became aware how dark the room was. The fire was extinguished. And Rose was holding his hand. "Why did you stop?" Rose whispered through the dark.

"Stop what?" he noticed that he was also whispering

"The fire."

"It was just you sleeping."

"Why were you dreaming that?"

"Beats me."

Rose shrugged okay and let go of his hand. "Thanks for showing me," she said. "Let's go back to the dorms."

"Rose, do you…"

She sat back down. "Do I what?"

"Have you ever thought that our own family could break the enchantment?"

Rose looked down at the floorboards and fidgeted with a lock of her blonde hair. She felt her throat thicken. "You—you mean like if they saw through the enchantment and see me as a Weasley, and you as a Malfoy, we'd be back?"

"Yes."

"Yeah, it passed my mind, but when Dornhill said true love, it came to me like the one in the fairy tales. Sorry, I know you don't believe in fairy tales."

"You're right, I don't. But it's never really been an issue. I'm a guy," he laughed softly. "But I do believe that those kinds of stories, no matter how whimsical or corny they are, hold powerful messages that we often take for granted, like how love conquers everything. It's true, but we don't really acknowledge it fully."

"So, what do you think? About the true love thing?"

"I think our families couldn't break the spell, because even if the Weasleys would come to love you, they would always see you as a Malfoy. That goes for me too. I think it's not about you being seen as not a Malfoy but as a Weasley and me not as a Weasley but as a Malfoy. It's not about names. I think it's just about the person behind the names. Based on what I've observed, Rose Malfoy and Scorpius Weasley have very strong and distinct personalities. Rose Malfoy is the bitch-spawn of evil. Scorpius Weasley is the lame never-ever-risk-taker. Your dad and Al, both of them had told me that I, meaning Scorpius Weasley, would _never_ risk myself to get in trouble. I know they love me, but if they only see Scorpius Weasley though I have strongly proved over the past few days that I'm nothing like him, then they won't see _me_. Really see me."

"That means we have to look outside our family…or, I don't know, our current community? Rose asked, deeply analyzing the idea. "Because if we have such strong personalities as a Malfoy and a Weasley, people might have a hard time looking past that."

"More or less," Scorpius said, looking at her like he wanted to say something more.

"We have to leave this place?"

"No. I don't think that's necessary."

"The what do we do? We wait? We look around?"

Scorpius shook his head. "I don't know."

"What kind of true love are we looking for, anyway?" Rose said, unwrapping her arms from her knees. "If it's not family love…friendly love? Er, roma—romantic love?"

"Probably," Scorpius mumbled, looking down. "Like the fairy tales."

"Like, if it's a true romantic love, then I might end up marrying that person? That sort of thing?"

"Yeah," his voice had gone hard. "Probably."

"Same for you."

"Awesome."

"That would be some quest."

"In the name of true love."

Rose sighed. "I don't want that."

Scorpius' heart skipped a beat. "Don't want what?"

"I don't want to look for it. I don't want to wait for it. I just want it to happen."

Scorpius bent his head down. "Me too."

"And that's coming from someone who doesn't believe in fairy tales."

"Because what happens in fairy tales doesn't exist," Scorpius said, holding Rose's gaze. "But that doesn't mean I don't believe in the so-called true love."

"Oh really?"

"Really."

And he kissed her.

* * *

_That is probably one of my favorite Scorose moments in this fic. Although it seemed pointless, like only a filler or something. I don't wanna end this fic! AAAAHHH! And they finally kissed!_

_"Fuq d' poliz."_ _I haven't checked the grammar and the spellings. Feel free to point out the mistakes. I'm as lazy as shit._

_Apologies for wrong grammars and spellings._


	17. Not A Chapter

Hi readers.

I know I haven't updated in ages and I know how annoying it is when you are reading a multichaptered fanfic and the writer leaves the damn story in a cliffhanger. I know it sucks. I'm sorry. But I've been going through a "rough time", in a cliché term.

I thought that at first, I was just being a sentimental sap shit writer who doesn't want to finish the story because of abandonment issues or whatever you call it. _A Blonde Weasley and a Redheaded Malfoy _and my other Scorose fic, titled _Rose's Seven Sleeping Activities_, both have one chapter to go before they are done. Then days passed and weeks, and I haven't written anything. I have MS Word opened, but the document remains blank. I could not think. I could not write. Nothing comes out. So I thought that maybe it's not abandonment issues at all. I concluded with an untimely case of writer's block. Untimely, first because I didn't want to prolong any more waiting anxiety over the updates, and second because college was really bugging the hell out of me and I needed to do all these shits for school. I'm not being angsty about school, okay? Well…maybe I am. Just for a bit. But my dislike for school goes deeper than hectic schedules, impediment to leisure and deadlines for schoolworks. It goes way deeper, but that's another story and I wouldn't want to waste your time about the unpleasant things I feel for damn institutions and the motherfucking stupid system. Pardon my language.

But months passed, and the stupid writer's block got worse.

You see, when I have the old WB and I attempt to write, like really really attempt, I eventually get the drive to initiate a thought and the words would come out. It is still a struggle, but while I'm writing, I keep fighting off the block, and keep fighting and keep fighting until I have written a lengthy piece. The more WB I have, the harder I keep fighting. And the harder I keep fighting, the lengthier my work comes out. That is the normal case. But something was wrong this time because this:

I couldn't form a straight thought, so even if I fought off the block, nothing comes out. I just couldn't. And what's worse is that the more I fought it, the more it became elusive. My brain was starting to malfunction or something. Even my academics deteriorated. I fucking got low grades in English, Journalism and Literature class. I don't give a shit about grades, personally, but the grades were a sign that something was really wrong. I usually wrote down whatever bothers me and then I'd feel better (I know you understand that therapy *smiley face plus thumbs up*), but this time, it doesn't really work.

I started having self-problems. I can't tell here. I can't even understand the shit happening to me. And everything is in my brain and I can't let it out. This realization started a little before Christmas, but in retrospect, I knew my issues started a long before, though it manifested itself in intense forms just recently.

I don't know how long until I'd be able to update, but before writing the last chapters for both my fics, I want to fix myself first. I don't know how I can fix myself but I need to do it alone. I know I can use some help, but I don't want to add to whatever shit is going on with everyone I know personally. I love my family and friends and I don't want to worry them. And besides, whenever I make attempts to tell them what I'm thinking and shit, I can't. I literally can't. Like, my mouth decides on its own to shut up.

So, I really am sorry. Maybe you have forgotten my fics, maybe you haven't. But I just feel really damn guilty for not updating. I tried to tell myself that it's my story and I shouldn't adjust to my readers because I write for myself…but that is not true. Though I have written these stories for myself at first, everything has grown with your help and support. You all make me feel that I am not some shitty wanna-be writer, but rather, a person not just with a "talent" for writing, but with a soul for it. Writing has been my comfort ever since I can't remember, and my readers, though you are miles or oceans away from me, make me not feel useless in this field.

We write and absorb words. We create worlds. We laugh with each other and maybe cry with each other and we feel the characters as if they were real persons. It's not just for entertainment. It's something deeper than an escape (though I know, and hope you agree, that it started as an escape). It's a sense of belongingness and comfort and other pleasant things.

These stories mean so much to me, and you do too. I hope you know how much you mean to me, even though we are all strangers. But take notice of the emotions and dreams and thoughts I have placed in every word of the stories I have made for me, for you and for the fandom/s. Then maybe we are not strangers after all.

Sorry for being a sap, but all I said are true, and you do mean to me. I love you. Don't get creeped out. I am not just saying that. I love you. I mean it and I hope you feel it through my words. That is why I feel bad for not updating. Because I love you and I don't want to disappoint you, even though this might only be one of the hundred fics you have read.

I love you and I love the fandom, the characters, the world, the emotions. I promise to fix myself as soon as possible so you know what happens to Rose and Scorpius, although I think you already have a pretty damn fair idea.

Love,  
Al

P.S. Please don't review here about this loooong author's note. I don't want to fish for reviews just because I decided to be wah-wah-boo-hoo all over my fics. Thank you *smiles and blows you a kiss*


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